
Class 



Book_!W: 



f 



^■. ..^-. ELEMENTS 

GENERAL HISTORY, 

ANCIENT AND MODERN. 

BY ALEXATsTDER FRASER TYTLER, F. R. S. E. 

Proressorof Hisory jo the University of Edinburgh. 
WITH A 

CONTINUATION, 

TERMINATING AT THE 

DEMISE OF KING GEORGE III., 1820. 

BY REV. EDWARD iNARJiS, D. D. 

Frodasor a! Modern Ilislory ia tb< Uoiversily of Oxford. 
TO WHICH AIIK ADDEI)^ A SUCCINCT 

HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

WITH 

ADDITIONS AND ALTERATIONS. 

BY AN AMERICAN GENTLEM.\N. 

8CPPLT1NG IMPORTANT OMISSIONS, BRINGING DOWN THE NARRATION OF EVENTS TO THE 

BEGINNING Of THE PRESENT VEAR, AND CORRECTING MANY PASSAGES RELATIMO 

TO THE HISTORY OF THIS COUNTRY. 

WITH AN IMPHOVED 

TABLE OF CHRONOLOGY; 

A COMPARATIVE VIEW OF 

ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY; 

AND 

QUESTIONS ON EACH SECTION. 

4DArTED rOR THE TrsE OF SCHOOLS AND ACADEMICSt 
BY AN EXPERIENCED TEACHEH. 

Seventy-Sixth Edition. 



CONCORD, N. H. 
PUBLISHED BY JOHN F. BROWN, 



Ca: ROBINSON. FRANKLIN & CO ; ROBlNjON, PRATT k CO.; D.APPLETON, i OA 
PHILADELPHIA — WM. MARSHALL, & CO : GRrGG k ELLIOTT,; THOIuAi 
COWPERTHWAIT, & CO.; KAY ft BROTHER, HOGAN «t THOMP- 
SON, AND URIAH HUNT. FORTLAND-WM. HYDE. 



1840 



WS5" 



DlPTUiC'J" OF M:\V-ll.\IVir.SinRE, /owii: 

Distiict CItrk' office. 

BE IT REMEJIBEIIED, iliai on llie sixtii day of November, A. D. 
1,824, and in tlio furly-niiitii yo.ir of tlio Ir.dopeiidciice of the United States 
of America, ISAAC HILL, of the said Distiict, has deposited in tliiii ofKco 
Ihe title of a book, tlie rigiit whereof lie claims as propiietor, in the words fol- 
lowing, to wit : — 

" Elunicnts of General History, ancient and modern. By Alexander Era- 
ser Tytler, F. R S. E. Professor ,.f History in the University of Edlnhnruh. 
With a contiiMjation, terminnfinjr at the demise of Kinj^ George III., 1,820. 
By Rev. Edward Nares, D. D. Professor of Modern History in the Univer- 
sity of O.vford. To which are added, a succinct History of the United 
States; with additions and alterations, by an American iijentleman. Supply- 
ing important omissions, briniring down the narration of events to the begin- 
ning of the present year, and correcting many passages relating to the history 
of this country. With an improved Table of Chronology ; a comparative 
view of Ancient and Modern Geograpiiy ; and Questions on each section. 
Adapted for the use of Schools and Academies, by an experienced 
Teacher." 

In coiifonnity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, 
" An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, 
charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of siicJi copies, during the 
times therein mentioned ;" and also an act, entitled, " An act supplementa- 
ry to an act, antitled an act for thfi encouragement of learning, by securing 
the copiei4 of maps, charts, andbook.'*, to the authors and proprietors of such 
copies during tlie times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits there- 
of to the arts of designing, engraving, and etcliii;g historical ai;d other 
prints.' 

WILLIAM CLAGGETT, Clerk 

of the District of J^ew-Hamf shire. 
A true copy of Record. 

Attest WILLIAM CLAGGETT, Clerk. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



In preparing this edition, the original text of Tytler and 
Nares has been carefully revised and corrected. Part IV., 
which contains the History of South America, New Spain, and 
the West Indies, has been added. These countries are scarcely 
noticed in former editions; but they have acquired a rank and 
importance which make their history equally important to the 
plan of this work, and equally interesting, with that of most 
countries in Europe. Additions have also been made to many 
chapters in Part III., by which the history is continued to the 
commencement of 1,824. The Questions for Examination in 
the edition of 1,823, have been corrected, and new Questions 
are added, adapted to the additions made to the text. 

The publisher has been at considerable exjyense in obtaining 
those improvements, but he trusts that they make this edition 
decidedly superior to any that has been hitherto publislied. 



PREFACE. 



THE following work contains the Outlines ol a Course of Lect«h,e8 on 
General History, delivered for icany years in the University of Edin- 
burgh, and received with a portion of the public approbation amply 
sufficient to compensate the labours of the author. He began to compose 
these Elements principally with the view of furnishing an aid to students 
.attending his Lectures ; but soon conceived, that, by giving a little more 
amplitude? to their composition, he might render the work of more general 
Utility. As now given to the public, he would willingly flatter himself 
that it may be not only serviceable to youth, in furnishing a regular plan 
for tne prosecution of this important study, but useful even to those who 
have acquired a competent knowledge of general liistory from the peru-, 
sal of the works of detached historians, and who wish to methodize that 
knowledge, or even to refresh their memory on material facts and the 
order of events. 

In the composition of these Elements the autho.' has endeavoured to 
unite with the detail of facts, so much of reflection as to aid the mind 
in the formation of rational views ol' the causes and consequences of 
events, as well as of the policy of the actors ; but he has anxiously 
guarded against that speculative refinement which has sometimes entered 
mto works of this nature. Such works profess to exhibit the philosophy 
or the spirit of history, but are more adapted to display the Writer's 
ingenuity as a theorist, or talents as a rhetorician, than to instruct the 
reader in the more useful knowledge of historical facts. 

As the progress of the human mind forms a capital object in the'study 
of history, the state of the arts and sciences, the religion, laws, govern- 
ment, and manners of nations, are material parts, even in an elementary 
work of this nature. The history of literature is a most important arti- 
cle in this study. The author has therefore endeavoured to give to each of 
these topics its due share of attention ; an<l in that view they atfe Mpa< 
rately treated, in distinct sections, at particular periods of time. 

ALEX. FRASER TYTLLR. 

Ediitburgh^ AprU, 1801. 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Advanttges arising from the Study of History, and more particulsrly 

from prouecuting it according to a regular Plan - - - - 11 
PlAH or THK COURSE * 13 



PART FIRST 

ANCIENT HISTORY. 



Sect. 1. Earliest authentic Accounts of the History of the World 17 
Sect. 2. Considerations on the Nature of the First Gcvcmmeuts, and 

on tlie Laws, Customs, Arts, and Sciences of the first 

Ages 18 

Sec'. 3. Of the Egyptians 20 

Sect. 4. Of the Piiceniciiins 22 

Sect. 5. The History of Greece ib. 

Sect. 6. Reflections on the first and rudest Periods of the Grecian 

History 23 

Sect. 7. Earlv period of Grecian History. Argonautic Expedition. 

Wars of Thebes and Troy ' 24 

Sect. 8. Establislinient of ihe Greek Colonies ... 25 

Sect. 9. Tiie Republic of Soarta 26 

Sert. 10. The Republic of Athens 28 

Sect. 11. Of the state of the Persian Empire, and its History down to 

the War with (i recce 29 

Sect. 12. The War between Greece and Persia . - . - 3j 

Sect. 13. Age of Pericles 33 

Sect. 14. The Republic of Thebes 35 

Sect. 15. Philip of 3Iacedon ib. 

Sect. 10. Alexander liie Groat 36 

Sect. 17. Successors of Alexander ...... 38 

Sect. 13. Fall and conqucsi of Greece 39 

Sect IS). Political Reflections arising from the History of the States of 

Greece 40 

Sect 20 State of the Arts in Greece 41 

Sect. 2] Of the Greek Poets 43 

Sect. 22. Of the Greek Historians J5 

Sect. 2!^. Of the Greek Philosophers 47 

Sect. 24 The History of Rome - 49 

Reflections on the Government and State of Room utyier the 

Kings - - 62 



*i CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Sect. 25. Rome under the Consuls ---,-'' 53 

Sect. 26. The Law of Volero 56 

Sect 27. The Decern vi rate -------- 57 

Sect. 28. Increase of popular Power 58 

Sect. 20. Conquest of Italy by the Romans ..'-.- 59 

Sect. 30. History of Carthage 60 

Sect. 31. History of Sicily " 61 

Sect. 32. The Tunic Wars 62 

Sect. 33. Tne Gracchi, and tlie CorrMption of the Commonwealth 64 
Sect 34. I'rogrf^ss of ihe Civil Wars. Second Triumvirate, and fall of 

the Republic 67 

Sect. 35. Considerations on sucli particulars as mark the Genius and 

national Character of the Romans - - . . 70 

System of R,nnian Education ib. 

Sect. 36. Of the Progress of Literature among the Romans - 71 

Sect. 37. Stale of Pliilosopliy among the Romans - . - 75 

Sect. 3rf. Of tlie Public and Private iManxirrs of thd Romans - - 76 

Sect. 39. Of the Art of War among the Romans ... 77 
Sect. 40. Rellections arising from a View of the Roman (Ijstpry during 

the Commonwealth 79 

Sect. 41. Rome undfir the Emperors 81 

Sect. 42. The same subject continued 84 

Sect. 43. Age of the Antonines, &C. 87 

Sect. 44. State of the Roman Empire at the time of Constantine. His 

Successors 90 

Sect. 45. Progress of the Christian Religion from its Institution to the 

Extinction of Paganism in the Reign of Theodoeius - 93 

Sect. 4G. E.xtinction of the Roman Empire in the West - - 95 
Sect. 47. Of the Origin, Planners, and Character of the Gothic Jjations 

before their establishment in the Roman Empire - 97 
Sect. 46. Of the IVIanneis, I..avvs, and Government of the Gothic Na- 
tions after their establishment in the Roman Empire 09 
Sect. 49. Method of studying Ancient History .... 102 



PART SECOND. 

MODERN HISTORY. 



Sect. 1. Of Arabia and tl'.e Empire of the Saracens - - 106 

Sect. 2. Monarchy of the Franks . . - - - 108 

Sect. 3. Reflections on the State of France during the Meiovingian 

race of its Kings 109 

Sect. 4. Charlemagne. Tlie new Empire of the West - - 112 

Sect. 5. Manners, Governments, and Customs of the Age of Char- 

len\agne 113 

Sect. 6. Retrospective View of the Affairs of the Church before the 

A<je of Ciiarlemagne 115 

Sect. 7. Empire of the West "under the Successors of Charlemagne 116 
Sect. 8. Empire of the East during the Eighth and Ninth Centuries 118 
Sect. 9. State of the Cinnch in the Eighth and Ninth Centuries - 119 
Sect 10. Of ll)e Saracens in the Eigluh and Ninth Centuries - 120 

Sect. 11. Empire of the West and Italy in the Tenth and Eleventh 

Centuries - 121 

Sect. 12. History of Britain from its earliest Period down to the Nor- 
man Conquest 123 

Beef. 13 Of theGcrv^ernment.Laws and Manners of the Anglo-Saxofif 127 



CONTENTS. 7 

PngB. 
Sect. 14. State of Europe during the Tenth, Eleventh, and TwdAh 

Centuries 128 

Sect. 15. H:story of England in the Eleventh, Twelfth, and part of the 

Thirteenth Centuries 131) 

Sect. 16. State of Germanv and Italy in the Thirteenth Century 134 

Sect. 17. The Crusades or Holy Wars 135 

Sect. 18. Of Chivalry and Romance 138 

Sect. 19. State of Europe in tiie Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries 140 

Sect. 20. Revolution in Switzerland 141 

S<*ct. 21. State of Europe continued in the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and 

part of the Fifteentli Centuries - - - 142 

Sect. 22. History of England in the Thirte*^nth Century - - 143 

Sect. 23. History of Scotland from the Eleventh to the Fourteenth 

Century 144 

Sect 24 History of England in the Fourteenth Century - - 146 

Sect! 2.5! England and France in the Fifteenth Century. State of 

Manners 147 

Sect. 26. Decline and Fall of the Greek Empire ... I49 

Sect. 27. Government and Policy of the Turkish Empire - - 150 

Sect. 28. France and Italy in the End of tiie Fifteentli Century 151 

Sect. 29. History of Spain in the Fourteeutii and Fifteenth Centuries 152 
Sect. 30. Franco, Spain, and Italy, in the End of the Fifteenth and Be- 
ginning of the Sixteenth Century .... 153 
Sect. 31. History of England from the Middle of the Fifteenth to the 
Beginning of the Si.\teciith Century. Civil Wars of York 
and Lancaster ..-..--- j54 
Sect. 32. History of Scotland from the Middle of the Fourteenth Cen- 
tury to the End of the Reign of James V. - - 156 
Sect. 33. Of the Ancient Constitution of the Scottish Government 159 
Sect. 34. A view of the Progress of Liteaature and Science in Europe 
from the Revival of Letters to the End of the Fifteenth 

Cen'ury - . . I6O 

Sect. 35. View of the Progress of Commerce in Europe before the 

Portuguese Discoveries ' ^63 

Sect 36. Discoveries of the Portuguese in the Fifteenth Century, and 

their effects on the Commerce of Europe - " , „ ' 
Sect. 37. Germany and France in the Reigns of Charles V. and Fran- 

cis I. - . - M 

Sect. 33. Observalions on the Constitution of the G-'-man Empire 170 

Sect. 39. Of the Reformation in Germany and SAvitzerland, and the 

Revolution in Denmark and Swed"^'' " " ' • *''• 
Sect. 40. Of the Reformation in England f^d*^'" II«"'7 VlH. and his 

Sect. 41. Of tl.TSovery and Conq.-'st of America by tlie Spaniards 17| 
Sect. 42. Possessions of the other F-.ropcan Nations m America 177. 

Sect. 43 Of the State of the Fin- Arts 111 Europe, in the Age of Leo X. 180 
Sect. 44. Of the Ottoman Pover in the Sixteentn Century - - 182 
Sect. 45. State of Persia, :""' H'e other Asiatic Kingdoms, in the Six- 

teomh and seventeenth Centuries - - - - JSJ 

Sect. 46. History of mdia - - - - • ' , '.' *^' 
Sect. 47. Ancici)' -State of India; Manners, Laws, Arts, and Sciences, . 



arJ 



Religion, of the Hindoos 



Sect 48. or China and Japan - , - 

Sect 49 Of the Antiquity of the Empire of China. State of the Arts 

and Sciences, ]\Iftnners, Government, Laws - - 189 

Sect. 50. Mr. Baillys Theory of the Origin of the Sciences among the 

Nations of Asia - - -, ■'»,.*,', 

Sect 51 Reign of Philip 11. of Spain. Revolution of the Netherlands, 

and Establishment of the Republic of Holland - \^ 

Sect 52 Of the Constitution and Government of tho United Provinoef 196 
Sect 63 Reian of Philip II f;»ntinn«d - - . - - 197 



f ^ CONTENTS. 

"^ . f^go 

Sect. 54. Stale of Fmnce in the End of the Sixteenth Century, under 

Henry II., Francis II., Charles IX., Henry III., and 

Henry IV. 197 

Sect 55. History of En^^land and Scotland in the Reigns of Elizabeth 

and Marv Queen of Pcots 199 

Sect. 50. History of' Great Britain ni tlie Reigns of James I. nnd 

Cliai'.csl. - - - ...... 303 

Sect. 57. The Commonwealth of England 207 

Sect. 58. Reigns of Charles II. and James II. - - - 209 

Sect. 59. On the British Constitution 211 

Sect. 60 Of the Public Revenue of Great Britain - - 214 

Sect fil History of France under Lewis XIII. - - . 216 

Sect C2. Spain under Philij) III, and Philip IV. Constitution of Por- 

tui;al and Spain 217 

Sect. 63. Affairs of Germany from the Abdication of Charles V. to the 

Peace of Westphalia ... - - '218 

Sect. 64. France under Lewis XIV. - - - - - 219 

Sect. 65. Of the Constitution of France under the Monarchy - 223 

Sect 66. Of Peter the Great, Czar of Muscovy, nnd Charles XII., 

King of Sweden 224 

Sect. 67. A View of the Progress of Science and Literature in Europe, 

from the End of the FiAeenth to the End of the Sixteenth 

Century - - 227 



^ 



APPENDIX. 

THE HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 

Sect. 1. A General Vjcw of the History of Mankind in the Primeval 

Ages - o:{| 

Sect. 2. Summary View uT Jewish History .... 232 

Sect. 3. The Antiquity of ttr. Scriptures 2X1 

Sect. 4. The Subject of the Bo.j^p ;,„..! CJtaracters of the Writers 2:t5 

S'jct. 6. Of the Antediluvian Woi'.i 210 

Sect. 6. First Age« after the Deluge 241 

Beet. 7. Of the Jews il, 

Sect. 8. The History xof the Hebrews dur^^r the Government of ihe 

Judges ''.... 244 

Sect. 9. Retrospect of the Government of the Ht>,rew8 - - 245 

Sect. 10. Regal Governnient of the Hebrews ... 246 

Sect 11. Restoration of the Jews t«i their Liberty nnd C-iuntry - 249 

Sect. 12. The State of Learning and Coimnerce'among ihe Iowa 2'>2 

Condaaion - . 333 

PART THIRD. 

MODERN HISTORY 

8€iet 1. France, from the d«ath of Lewis XJV., 1,715, to the Peace af 

Vienna, 1,73d 2S9 



CONTENtS. '9 

Page. 
Sect. 2. England, from the Accession of the House cf Hanover, 

1,714, to the end of the Reign of George the First, 1,727 262 
Sect. 3. Austria, (and Germany,) from the I^feace of Rastadt, 1,714, 

to the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1,748 - - - 268 

Sect 4. England, from the Accession of George II. to the Throne, 

1,7-27, toJris death, 1,760 . . ;. . - - 273 
Sect. 5. State of Europe at the Conclusion of the Peace of Aix-Ia- 

Chapellc, 1,748 278 

$t>ct. 6. Of tiie Seven Years' War, 1,755— 1,762 - - .,- 281 

Sect. 7. From the Accession of George III., 1,760, to the Cominence- 

ment of the Disputes rvith America, 1,764 ... 288 
Sect 8. Disputes between Great Britain and her American Colonies, 

1,764—1,73:? 291 

Sect. 9. France, from the Peace of Paris, 1,763, to the Opening of the 

Assembly of the States General, 1,789 - - ^ 297 

Sect. 10. Austria, from the conclusion of the Seven Years' War, to the 

death of Maria Theresa, 1,763— 1,780 - - ,- 307 

Sect. '11. Reigns of Joseph II., Leopold II., &c., from 1,765 to 1,800 '309 
Sect. 12. France, from the Opening of the Assembly of the States 

General, 1,789, to the deaths of the King and Queen, 1,793 316 
Sect. 13. Great" Britain, from the conclusion of the American War, 

1,783, to the Peace of Amiens, 1,802 - - - - 322 
Sect. 14. France, from the death of the King and Queen, and Over- 

tiirow of the Girondist or Brissotine Party, 1,793, to the 

Establishment of the Directory, 1,795 - - - 333 

Sect. 15. France, from tlie Establishment of the Directory, 1,795, to tbo 

Peace of Amiens 337 

Sect. 16. France, from the Peace of Amiens to the Treaty of Tilsit, 

1,807 - - 347 

Sect. 17. Spam and Portugal, from 1,788 to 1,814 - - - 353 
Sect. 18. France, from the Peace of Tilsit, to the Abdication of Na- 
poleon, 1,814 339 

Sect. 19. Poland, from the Commencement of the Eighteenth Century, 

to tin; Treaty of Vienna, 1,815 .... 363 

Sect. 20. Great Britain, from the Peace of Amiens, 1,802, to the death 

of (Jeorge III., 1,820 369 

Sect. 21. France, from the Entrance of the Allies into Paris, March, 

1,814, to the final Evacuation of it by the Foreign Troops, 

1,818 375 

Sect. 22. Northern States of Europe, from the Close of the Seven- 
teenth Dcntury 379 

Sect. 23. Soutiicrn States of Europe, from the Close of the Seventeenth 

Century 387 

Sect. 24. Of India,' or Hindoostan 391 

State of Arts, Sciences, Religion, Laws, Government, Ac. - - 39S 

Botany , . . 402 

Electricity 405 

Mineralogy and Geology 407 

Geography - - . 409 

Discoveries and Inventions . . . _ ... 4ig 

Religion 420 

History, Polite Literature, Fine Art«| Ac. - - . . - 422 

Treaty of Vienna, 1^15 ■ - ... - 423 



!» CONTENTS. 

PART FOURTH. 

THE UNITED STATES. 

Pag« 

Sect. I. DiBCOvery of America 424 

Sect 2. IViscoveriesj by the English. Settlement of Virginia. - 427 

Sect- 3. Sellleni~nt ofMassaclmsetts, Rijodc-Is!.tnd, Connecticut, New- 
Hampshire, Maine, Maryhmil, North and Soutli Carolina, 
New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and 
Georgia - - - 431 

Sect. 4. War with France, and Conquest of Canada. Disputes with 

Great Britain, and War ofliie Revolution ... 433 
Sect. 5. Establishment of tiie State and National Governments. Wars 

with Tripoli and the Indians, »&c. ... - 443 

Sect. 6. War with Great Britain, &c. 451 



A Table of Chronology 460 

Comparative view or Ancieht and Modern GcooiurHf - 499 



INTRODUCTION. 

% 

1 1. THE valu^ ol*any science is to be estimated according to its tenden-^ 
kry to promote improvement, either in private virtue, or in those cjualities 
whfch render man extensively iiseCul in society. Some objects of pursuit 
have a sicondary ut^jUty; in furnishing- rational amusement, which, re- 
lieving- the mind at intervals fiom the tatigue of serious occupation, in- 
vi.jforates an.l {ifepares it for fresh exertion. It is the perfection of any 
science, to unit^li^se advantugis, to promote the advancement of public 
and private virtuLffSud to supply such a degree of amusement, as to super- 
sede the necessity of recuri^y<| to frivolous pursuits for the sake of relaxa- 
tion. # Under this, description falls the science of history. 

2. History, sj^j-s Dionysius of Halicarnassus, is ^^ philosophy teaching 
by examplei." 'lilfe superior elficacy of example to jirecept is universally 
acknowledged All th<; laws of mc-ality and rules of conduct are veri- 
fied by experience, and are constantly submitted to its test and examina- 
tion. History, which adds to our own experience an immense treasure of 
the experience of others, furnishes innumerable proofs, by which we may 
verify all the precepts of morality and of prudence. 

3. History, beside its general advantages, has a distinct species of util- 
ty to dirterent men, according to their several ranks in society, and occu- 
pations in life. 

4. In this country it is an indispensable duty of every man of liberal 
birth, to be acquainted, in a certain degree, with the srJcncc; of politics ; 
4nd history is the school of politics. It opens to us 'fte springs of humao 
Aflairs ; the causes of the ris^ grandeur, revoP'^'o'is, and fall of empires ; 
Jt points out the reciprocal i^luence of go- erament and of national maa- 
Qtrs ; it dissipates prejudices, nourii^'^s the love of our country, and di- 
rects to the best means of its imi^'^-'vement ; it illustrates equally the bless- 
•ngs of political union, an<l the miseries of faction ; the danger, on one 
hand, of anarchy, and, •'Q the other, the debasing influence of despotic 
power. 

5. It is nece«Ary *jat- the study of history should be prosecuted accord- 
in"- to a reg-"'^'" plan ; for this science, more perhaps than any other, ia 
liable to perversion from its proper use. With some it is no better than 
an '-^le amusement ; with others it is the food of vanity ; with a tiiird 
class it fosters the prejudices of party, and leads to political bigotry. It 
is dangerous for those who, even with the best intentions, seek for histori- 
cal knowledge, to pursue the study without a guide ; for no science hsis 
been so little methodized. The sources of prejudice are infinite ; and the 
mind of youth should not be left undirected amidst the erring, the partial, 
and contradictory representations of historians. Besides the importance of 
being able to discriminate truth from falsehood, the attention ought to be 
directed only to useful truths. Much danger arises from the perusal of 
memoirs, collections of anecdotes, ifec. ; for many of those works exhibit 
the most depraved pictures, weaken our confidence ia virtue, and present 
the most unfavourable views of human nature. 



i; INTRODUCTION. 

6. There are many difficulties which attend the attempt of fonning k 
proper plan of study, and giving an instructive view of g;eneral history. 
Utility is to be reconciled with amusement, prejudices are to be encoun- 
tered, variety of taste to be consulted, political opinions balanced, judg- 
nient and decision exercised on topics keenly controverted. The proposer 
of such a plan oug^ht therefore to be possessed equally of firmness of mind 
and moderation of sentiment. In many cases he must abandon popularity 
for the calm approbation of his own conscience. Disregarding every 
partial and inferior consideration, he must direct his view solely ^ 
the proper end of all education, the forming of good men, and of go<td . 
citizens. ' ^ 

7. The object aud ^ensral purpose of the following course^ is to exhibit a t 
progrtg-jiw3 view of the state of mankind, from the earliest ages of which / 
we have any authentic accounts, down to the close of the 17th century ; ; 
to delineate the origin of states and of empires, the great outlines of their 
history, the revolutions which they have undergone, the causes which 
have contributed to their rise and grandeur, and operated *o their decline 
and extinction. For these purposes it is necessary to bestow particular 
attention on the manners of nations, their laws, the nature of their govern- 
ments, their relig^ion, their intellectual improvements^ aiid their progreM 

in th« arts And tcieaces. , *•' 



PLAN OF THE COUUSE, 



TWO opposite methods have been followed in giving academical leciurea 
on the study of history : one exhibiting a strict chronologica) arrangement 
of events, upon the plan of Turselline's Epitome ; the ot-Jier, a series of dis- 
quisitions on the various heads or titles of public l^"", and the doctrines of 
politics ; illustrated by examples drawrn from ^'H^ieut and modern history. 
Objections ocur to both these methods : <:ne former furnishes only a dry 
chronicle of events, which nothing -oimects together but the order of 
time ; the latter is insufficient for -ne most important purposes of history, 
the tracing of events to their ^auses, the detection of the springs of hu- 
man actions, the display o'-^^e progress of society, and of the rise and fall 
of states and empires ; anally, by confining history to the exemplification 
of the doctrines of r''i*^'^^i '^*^' ^°^^ ^^^ effect as a school of morals. 

In the followirto lectures we hold a middle course between these ex- 
tremes and e'-'^'^^*^"'"'! ^7 remedying the imperfection of each, to unite, 
if possible. -**® advantages of both. 

■yVhile-'^ much regard is had to chronology ao is necessary for showing 
fhe p-'gi'^ss of mankind in society, and communicating just ideas of the 
gf 3^- of the world in all the different ages to which authentic history ex- 
k-nds, we shall, in the dfliiiealion of the rise and fall of empires and theii 
revolutions, pay more attention to the connexion of subject than that <^ 
lime. 

In this view we must reject the common method of arranging geaeral 
history according to epochs, or jeras. 

When the world is viewed at any period either of ancient or of modern 
history, we generally observe one nation or empire predominant, to whom 
all the rest bear, as it were, an under part, and to whose history we find 
that the principal events in the annals of other nations may be referred 
from some natural connexion. This predominant empire or state it is pro- 
posed to exhibit to view as the principal object, whose history therefore 
is CO be more fully delineated, while the rest are only incidentally touch- 
ed when they come to have a natural connexion with the principal. 

The Jewish history, belonging to a different department of academirai 
education, enters not into the plan of these lectures ; though we often re- 
sort to the sacred writings for detached facts illustrative of the manntrs 
of ancient nations. See appendix. 

In the ancient world, among the profane nations, the Greeks are (he 
earliest people who make a distinguished figure, and whose history id at 
the same time authentic. 

The Greeks owed their civilization to the Eg^yptians aud Phoenicians. 
The Grecian history is therefore properly introduced hy a short accoun' 
of these nations, and of the Assyrians, their rivals, conquered at one tiin<^ 
by the Egyptians, and conquerors afterwards of them in their turn. 

Rise of the iiKlepende-it states of Greece, and singular constitution 0/ 
the two great republics of Sparta and Athens. 

The war of Greece with Persia induces a short account of the preceding 
periods of the history of that nation, the rise of the Persian monarchy, the 
nature of its government, manners, and religion. 

R 



14 PLAN OF THE COURSE. 

^ The Greciaji history is pursued throug-h all tlie revolutions of th« na- 
tion, till Greece becomes a province of the Roman empire. 

Political reflections applicable to tlie history of the states of Greece. 

Progress of the Greek: iu the arts.— Of the Greek poets,— historians,— • 
philosophers. 

Rome, after the conquest of Greece, becomes Uie leading' object of at- 
tention. 

Origin of the Romans. — Nature of their government under the kings.— 
Easy substitution of the consular for the regal dignity. — Subsequent 
changes in the constitution. — Progress to a democracy. — Extension of thz 
Roman arms. — Conquest of Italy. — Wars with foreign nations. 

The Punio wars open a collateral view to the history of Carthage and 
of Sicily. 

Success of the Romt«a arms in Asia, Macedonia, and Greece Opu- 
lence of the republic trom htv conquests, and corruption of her manners 

The civil wars, and ruin of the <-oinmouwealth. 

Particulars which mark ihe genius -^.jj national spirit of the Romans :— 
education,— laws,— literary character,—- .^t of war,— public and private 
manners. 

Rome under the emperors. — Artful policy b^ which the first emperora 
disguised their absolute authority. — Decline of th. ambitious character 

of the Romans. — Easy submission to the loss of civil liurty. The military 

spirit purposely abased by the emperors, — The empire Jjyided becomes 
a languid body, without internal vigour. — The Gothic natio., p^y,. down 
from the north. — Italy conquered successively by the Hcruli, •^^.^j.^^jj^j 
and Lombards. — Extinction of the v,restern empire. ' 

The manners, genius, laws, and government of the Gothic nationb,fgj.jjj 
an important object of inquiry, from their influence on the manners -^.^ 
policy ol the modern European kingdoms. 

In the delineation of modern history the leading objects of attention are 
more various ; the scene is oftener changed : nations, which for a while 
occupy the chief attention, become for a time subordinate, and afterwards 
re-assume their rank as principal ; yet the same plan is pursued as iu the 
department of ancient history : the picture is occupied only by one great 
object at a time, to which all the rest hold an inferior rank, and are 
taken notice of only when connected with the principal. 

Upon the fall of the western empire, the Saracens are the first who dis 
tinguish themselves by the extension' of their conquests, and the splen- 
dour of their dominion. 

While the Saracens extend their arms in the east and in Airica, a new- 
empire of the west is founded by Charlemagne. — The rise and progress of 
the monarchy of the Franks. — The origin of the feudal system. — ^State of 
the European manners in the age ol Charlemagne. — Government, arts 
and sciences, literature. 

As collateral objects of attention, we survey the remains of the Roman 
empire in the east ; the conquests and settlements of the Normans ; the 
foundation and progress of the temporal dominion of the church of Rome ; 
the conquest of Ppain by the Saracens. 

The conquest ot England by the Normans solicits our attention to the 
history of Britain. Retrospective view of the British history, from its ear- 
liest period to the end of the Anglo-Saxon government in England. — Ob- 
servations on the government, laws, and manners, of the Anglo-Saxons. 

Collateral view of the state of the continental kingdoms of Europe, 
during the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries. — France under the Ca- 
petiau race of monarchs. — Conquests of the Normans in Italy and Sicily. — 
State of the northern kingdoms of Europe. The easte>-n empire. — Empire 
Ol' Germany. — Disputes of supremacy between the popes and the emperorg- 



PLAN OF THE COURSE. IS 

The history ol fVrUain still the principal object of attention. — England 
under the kin^s of the ]No.«,q„ ]ine, and the first princes of the Plantage- 
net branch. — The conquest of lre\^nd, iimler Henry II., introduces an an- 
ticipated progressive view of the politiccLi connexion between England 
and Ireland down to the present time. As we -proceed in the delineation 
of the British history, we note particularly those clicumstances which 
mark the growth of the English constitution. 

At this period all the kingdoms of Europe join in the crusades. — A briel 
account is given of those enterprises. — Moral and political effects of the 
crusades on the nations of pAu-ope.— Origin of chivalry, and rise of roman- 
tic fiction. 

Short connected sketch of the state of the European nations after the 
crusades. — Rise of the house of Austria. — Decline of the feudal govern- 
ment in France. — Establishment of the Swiss republics. — Disorders in the 
popedom. — Council of Constance. 

The history of Britain resumed. — England under Henry III. and Ed- 
ward I. — The conquest of Wales. — The history of Scotland at this period 
intimately connected with that of England. — View of the Scottish history 
from Malcolm Canmore to Robert Bruce. — State of both kingdoms during 
the reigns of Edward II. and III. — The history of France connected with 
that of Britain. — France itself won by Henry V. 

The state of the east at this period allurds the most interesting object of 
attention. — The progress of the Ottoman arms retarded for a while by th* 
conquests of Tamerlane and of Scanderbeg. — The Turks prosecute the 
victories under Mahomet the great, to the total extinction of the Constan- 
tinopolitan empire. — The constitution and policy of the Turkish empire 

France, in this age, emancipates herself from the feudal servitude ; and 
Spain, from the union of Arragon and Castile, and the fall of the kingdonr 
of the Moors, becomes one monarchy under Ferdinand and Isabella. 

The history of Britain is resumed. — Sketch of the history of England 
down to the reign of Henry VIII. ; of Scptland, during the reigns of the 
five Jameses. — Delineation of the ancient constitution of the Scottish gov- 
ernment. 

The end of the fifteenth century is a remarkable acre in the history of 
Europe. Learning and the sciences underwent at that time a very rapid 
improvement ; and, after ages of darkness, shone out at once with sur- 
prising lustre. — A connected view is presented of the progress of literature 
in Europe, from its revival down to this period. — In the same age the ad- 
vancement of navigation, and the course to India by the Cape of Good 
Hope, explored by the Portuguese, affect the commerce of all the Europe 

The age of Charles V. unites in one connected view the affairs of Ger- 
many, of Spain, of France, of England, and of Italy. The discovery of 
the new world, the reformation in Germany and England, and tlie splen- 
dour of the fine arts under the pontificate of Leo X., render this period one 
of the most interesting in the annals of mankind. 

The pacification of Europe, by the treaty of Catteau Cambresis, allow* 
us for a while to turn our attention to the state of Asia. A short sketch is 
given of the modern history of Persia, and the state of the other kingdoms 
of Asia, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries ; the history of fndia ; 
the manners, laws, arts, and sciences, and religion of the Hindoos ; the' 
history of China and Japan ; the antiquity of the Chinese empire, its 
manners, laws, government, and attainments in the arts and sciences, 
- Returning to Europe, the attention is directed to the state of the conti- 
nental kingdoms in the age of Philip II. Spain, the Netherlands, France, 
*nd England, present a various and animated picture. 

England under Elizabeth. The progress of the reformation in Scot- 
land.— The distracted reign of Mary, queen of Scots.— The hbtory ol 



»6 PLAN OF THE COURSE. 

Britain pursued without interruption down to the revrJaOon, and here clos- 
ed liy a sketch of the { rogress of the Enghsh oonsiitution, and an examina- 
tiot, of its nature at this period, when it Ki;anie fixed and determined. 

The history of tiie southern ooniinental kingdoms is brought down to 
the end of the reign of Louis XIV.; of the northern, to the conclusion of 
the reigns of Charleo XtL of Sweden, and of Peter the great, czar of Mus- 
covy. 

We finish this view of universal history, by a survey of the state of the 
arts and sciences, and of the progress of literature in Europe, during the 
eixteenlh and seventeenth centuries. 

The chro?iology observed in this View of Universal History in that of 
archbishop Usher, which is founded on the Hebrew text of the Sacred Wri- 
tings. A :'iv7t Table -.J CJ^- ,.^ol -^v i* subjoined to these headt, for tht 
ease of (r^ student. 



PART FIRST. 

ANCIENT HISTORY. 



SECTION I. 



EARLIEST AUTHENTIC ACCOUNTS OF THE HISTORY OF 
THE WORLD. 

It is a difficult task to delineate the state ol mankind in the ear- 
liest ages of the world. We want information sufhcient to give us 
positive ideas on the subject; but as man advances in civilization, 
and in proportion as history becomes usefui and important, its cer- 
tainty increa'ies, and its materials are mote abundant. 

Various notions have been formed with respect to the population 
of the antediluvian world and its physical appearance ; but as these 
are rather matters of theory tha-^ »* tact, they scarcely fall with- 
in the province of history ; and ^liey are of the less consequence, 
because we are certain thn\tlie state of tho«e antediluvian ages 
could have had no materin' mtiuence on the tmies which succeeded 

The books of Mo'"*' '^'^on] the earliest authentic history of the 
ages immediately -^^liowing the deluge ,,, „, ^ , 

About 150 v-ars after that event, Nmirod (the Beius of profane 
histori ins) bwilt Babylon, and Assur built Nineveh, v/hich became the 
capital of aieAssyrWn empire ^ . . .^ , . 

Ninus the son c^' Belus, and his queen Semiramis, are said to have 
raised the emp'-^ of Assyria to a higher degree of splendour. 

From the «e;ith of -Ninias the son of Ninus, down to the revolt of 
the Mede-- under Sardanapahis, a period of 800 years, there is a 
chasm '' ^^"^ history of Assyria and Babylon. This is to be supplied 
Qi^ly.fom conjecture. 

1. he earliest periods of the Egyptian history are equally uncer- 
tain with those of the Assyrian. Menes is supposed the first king ot 
Egypt ; probab'y the Misraim of the Holy Scriptures, the grandson 
of Noah, or, as others conjecture, the Oziris of Egypt, the inventor 
of arts, and the civilizer of a great part of the eastern world. 

After Menes or Oziris, Egypt appears to have been divided iiito 
four dynasties, Thebes, Thin, Memphis, and Tanis ; and the people 
to have attained a considerable degree of civilization : but a period 
of barbarism succeeded under the shepherd-kino;s, subsisting for the 
space of some centuries, doun to the age of Sesostris (1650 A. C). 
who united the separate principalities into one kingdom, regnlatecl 
its policy with admirable sldll, and distinguished himself equally by 
his foreign conquests, and by his domestic administratioo. 
B2 



1« ANCIENT HISTORY. 



SECTION 



CONSIDERATIONS ON THE NATURE OF THE FIRST GOVERN- 
MENTS, AND ON THE LAWS, CUSTOMS, ARTS, AND 
SCIENCES OF THE EARLY AGES. 

§ 1 The earliest government is the patriarchal, which subsists Id 
'Axe rudest periods ofsociety. 

This has an easy progress to the monarchical. 

The first monarchies must have been very weak, and their terri- 
tory extremely limited. The idea of security precedes that ol 
conquest. In forming our notions of the extent of the firsl monar- 
chies, we ar«> deceivet' by the word king, which according to modem 
ideas, is connected with an extent of territory, and a proportional 
power. 1 he kings jn scripture are no more than the chiefs of tribes. 
There were five kin-gs in the vale of Sodom. J oshua defeated in his 
wars thirty-one kings, and Adonizedec threescore an<l ten. 

When families grew into nations, the transition from patriarchal to 
regal government, wasoasy; the kingly otHce, probiibiy passed by 
descent from father to soi.., and the sovereign ruled his tribe or na- 
tion, as the patriarch his femily, by the right of birth. 

Ihe hrst ideas of conquest rnust have proceeded from a people in 
the state of shepherds, who, ^«ce.=sarilv changing tlioir pasfiros, 
would probably make incursions .„ the appropriated territor-v of 
their neighbours. Such were the A.>^,ian or Phoenician inva.lers, 
who, under the name of shepherd-km^^^ conquered Egypt. But 
kingdoms so founded could have little du-ation Laws and good 
policy, essential to the stability of kingdoms, a„. the fruit of intellec- 
tual refinement, and arise only m a state ofsociety coriSiderably ad- 
vanced in civilization. 

The progress from barbarism to civilizatior, jg glow, because every 
step in the progress Is the result of necessity, after the experience 
of an error, or the strong feeling of a want. 

§ 2. Origin of Lfvws. Certain political writen, have supposed 
that in the infancy of society penal laws must have o\^n extremely 
mild. We presume the contrary to have been ralher i^g ^ase as 
the more barbarous the people, the stronger must be tht l,onds to 
restrain them : and history confirms the supposition in the cr,(,jpn| 
laws of the Jews, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Gauls. 

Among the earliest laws of all states are those regarding marriage ^ 
for the institution of marriage is coeval with the formation ofsociety^ 
The first sovereigas of all states are said to have institutetl marriage- 
and the earliest laws provided encouragements to matrimony. 

Among the ancient nations the husband purcha>cd his wife by 
money, or personal services. Among the Assyrians the marriageable 
women were put up at auction, and the price obtained for the more 
beautiful was assigned as a dowry to the more homely. 

The laws of succession are next in ordor to those of marriage 
The father had the absolute power in the divi:^ion of his estate. 
But primogeniture was understood to confer certain rights. 

Laws arise necessarily and imperceptibly from the condition of 
society ; and each particular law may be traced from the state of 
manners, or the political emergency" which gave it birth. Hence 
w» perceive the mtimate connexion between history and jurispru- 



ANCIENT HISTORY. 19 

dence, and the light which they must necessarily throw upon each 
other. The law<» of a country are best inlerpreied from its history; 
und its uncertain history is best ehicidated by its ancient laws. 

§ 3. Earliest jMethodx qf autheaticuling Contracts. Belbre the inven- 
tion of writing, contracts, tesLamenLs, sales, marriages, and the like, 
were transacted in public. The Jewish and the Grecian histories fur- 
nish examples. Some barbarous nations authenticate their bargains 
by exchanging symbols or talhes. — Tiie Peruvians accomplishRd most 
of the purposes of writing by knotted cords cT various colours, teruKid 
' qiiipos. The Mexicans communicated intelligence to a distance by 
painling. Other nations used an abridged mode ot p:iinting, or hi 
erogl rphics. Before writing the Egypliaus used liieroglyphics li)i 
transmitting and recording knowledge : after writing, they employ 
ed it tor \eiling or couccaimg knowledge from the vulgar. 

§ \. Methods for recording Ilistoriral Fucts^ and pidilishing I^zcs 
Poetry and song were tlic tirst vehicles of history, and the earliest 
mode of promulg;>ting laws. The songs of the bards re-cord a great 
deal of ancient history: and the laws of many of ine ancient nations 
were composed in verse. 

Stones, rud" and sculptured, ininnli and mounds of earth, are the 
monumeiits of history among a barbarous people.; and columns, tri- 
umphal arches, coins, iuid medals, among a more relined. These 
likewise illustrate the piogress i.f manners and of the arts. 

§ 5. Religious Institutions. Among tbe earliest instilutirns of <dl 
nations, are those whicii regard religious worship. The sentiment 
of religion is deeply rooted in the human mind. An uninstrncted 
savage will infer the existence of a God, and his attributes, from the 
gener.il order antl mechanism of nature ; and even the temporai-y 
irregularities of nature lead to religious veneration of the unknown 
power which conducts it. 

Betbre conceiving the idea of a Being utterly imperceptible to his 
senses, a savage would naturally seek that Being in the most striking 
ol»jacts of ser:se to which he ovvei' his most apparent benelits. Tin- 
sun, extending his benelicial inlluence over all nnture. was among 
the earliest objects of worship. The tire presented a symbol of the 
sun. The other celestial bodies naturally attracted their share ot 
veneration.* 

The symbolical mode of writing led to many peculiarities of the 
idolatrous worship of the cmcient nations. Animals, symbolical of the 
jttrioutes of deity, became gods themselves. The same God, repie- 
sented by different animals, was supposed tc have changed himseli 
ir.to different ibrms. The gratitude and venerntion for men whose 
lives had been eminently useful, joined to the belief of the soul's im- 
mortality, led to the upotneosis of heroes. Many cxceiient retlectitfus 
on idolatry and polytheism are found in the book called The iVisdoia 
of Solomon. 

The priesthood v.-as anciently exercised by the chief or monarch ; 

* It is a theory, supported by many facts, that in the beg^iuniug, all reli- 
gious truth \v»s made known to man by direct revelation. In sncceed- 
ino^ ages, intellectual perception was gradually clouded by the sensual 
and ofross nature of man, untii nis mind could not contemplate Ueity, but 
through the veil of His works. Thus the heaveuly were pt-haps, at first 
worsh'pped as repre .entative of their maker, but ;^radually became objects 
of direct adoration, and finally every element wai peopled with deities ; 
and mountains, forests, streams, and animals, were consecrated and ww- 
•hi^ppecL 



HB ANCIENT HISTORY. 

but as an empire became extensive, the monarch exercised this office 
bv his delegates ; and hence an additional source of veneration for the 
priesthood. The priests were the Iranr.ers and the administrators of 
the laws. 

§ 6. Arts and Sciences nf the Ancient JVations. The useful arts aie 
the offspring of necessity ; tlie sciences are the fruit of ease and 
leisure. The construction of ii-its, of weapons of war, and of hunt- 
ing, are the earliest arts. Agriculture is not practised till the tribe 
becomes stationary, and property is defined and secured. 

The sciences arise in a cultivated sociotj', where individuals enjoy 
that leisure which invites to study and speculation. The priests 
maintained in that condition by the monarch wei'e the earliest cul- 
tivators of science. The Egyptian science ^vas confined to the 
priests. Astronomy, which is among the earliest of the sciences, 
owed its origin probably to superstition. Me;'icine was among the 
early sciences. Ail rude nations have a pharmacy of their own, 
equal in general to their wants. Luxury, creating new and more 
complex diseases, requires a profounder knowledge of medicine, and 
of the animal economy. 



SECTION II). 

OF THE EGYPTIANS. 

* 
1 A GRE.A.T portion of the knowledge and attainments of the ancient 
nations, and by consequence of those of the moderns, is to be traced to 
Egypt. The Egyptians instructed the Greeks ; the Greeks perform- 
ed the same office to the Romans; and the latter have transmitted 
much of that knowledge to the world, of which we are in possession 
at this day.* 

2. The' antiquity of this empire, though we give no credit to the 
chronicles of Manetho, must be allrswed to be very greal. The Mo- 
saic writings represent Egypt, about 430 years after tlie ilood, ns a 
flourishing and well regulatecl kingdom. The nature of the country 
itself affords a presumption of the great aniiquity of the empire, ami 
its eaily civilizr.tion. Erom the lertili/.ing rfiects of the watere oi 
the Nile, it is probable that agriculture would be more early prac- 
tised there, than in regions less favouied by nature. The periodical 
inundations of the Nile are periiaps owing to the vapours of the 
Mediterranean condensed on the mountains of Ethiopia. 

3. The government of Egypt was a hereditary monarchy. The 
powers of the monarch were limited by constilutional laws; yet in 
many respects his authority was extremely despotical. The func- 
tions of the sovereign were partly civil and partly religious. — The 
king had the chief regulation of a!! that regarded the worship of the 
gods; and the priests, considered as his deputies, filled all the of- 
fices oi state. They were Loth the 1-egisIators and the civil judges ; 
they imposed and levied tne taxes, and regulated weights anrl meas- 
ures. The great national tribunal was composed of thirty judges, 
chosen from the three principal departments of the empire. 'I he 
administration of justice was defrayed by the sovereign, and, as par- 
ties were their "own advocates, w;is no burden upon the people. 
The penal laws of Egypt were uncommonly severe. Female chas- 

* F»r the lapposcd origin of Egyptian science, see Part II. Sect. 60- 



ANCIENT HISrORl. 21 

fitr was most ngi(11y protected. Funeral rites were not conferred 
till afler a scrutiny into the life of the deceased, and by a judicial 
decree approving his character. The characters even of the sove 
reign.s were subjected to this inquiry. 

There was an extraordinary regulation in Egypt regarding the 
borrowing of money. The borrower gave in pledge the body Oi 
his father, and it was deprived of funeral rites if he failed to re- 
deem it. 

Population was encouraged by law ; ai.d every man wa.s bound to 
maintain and educate the children born to him ot his slaves. 

4. The manners of the Egyptians were very early formed. They 
had a singular attachment to ancient usages ; a dislike to nnovation; 
a jsaiousy and abhorrence of strangers. 

5. They preceded most of the ancient nations in the knowledge 
of the useful arts, and in the cultivation of the sciences. Architecture 
was early brought to great perfection. Their buildings, the pyra- 
mids, obelisks, &c., have, from the mildness of the climate, suffered 
little injury from time. Pliny describes the contrivance for trans- 
porting the obelisks. The whole country abounds with the remains 
©f ancient magnificence. Thebes, in Upper Egypt, was one of the 
most splendid cities in the world. 

The pyramids arc supposed by somo writers to have been erecteo 
about 9i)0 years A. C. They wore probably the sepulchral monu- 
ments of the sovereigns. The Egyptians believed that death did 
not separate the soul from the body ; and hence their extreme care 
to preserve the body entire, by embalming, concealing it in caves and 
catacombs, and guarding it by such stupendous structures. Mr. 
Bruce supposes the pyramids to be rocks hewn into a pyramidal 
form, and encrusted, wherK necessary, with mason-work.* 

The remains of art in Egypt, though venerable for their great an- 
tiquity, are extremely deficient in beauty and elegance. The Egyp- 
tians, were ignorant of the construction of an arch. The remains of 
painting and sculpture evince but a slender proficiency in those arts. 

6. The Egyptians possessed considerable knowledge of geometry, 
mechanics, and astronomy. They had divided the zodiac into twelve 
signs ; they calculated eclipses ; and seem to have had an idea of 
the motion of the earth. 

7. The morality taught by the priests was pure and refined ; 
but it had little influence on the manners of the people. 

U. ao nivc-nrico tlip theology and secret doctrines of the priests 
were rational and subhme ; but the worship of the people was de- 
based by the most absurd and contemptible superstition. 

9- Notwithstanding the early civilization and the great attainments 
of this people, their national character v/as extremely low and des- 
picable among the contemporary nations of antiquity. The reason 
of this is, they were a people who chose to sequester themselves 
from the rest of mankind ; they were not known to other nations by 
their conquests ; they had little connexion with them by commerce; 
and they had an antipathy to the persons and manners of strangers; ' 

10. There were likewise many circumstances of their own man- 
ners which tended to degrade them in the opinion of other nations. 
All prof.3Ssions were hereditary in Egypt, and tlie rank of each was 
scrupulously settled; the objects of the religious worship were dif- 
ferent in different parts of the kingdom, a fertile source of division 

• Recent travellers have almost demonstrated this supposition. 



£2 ANCIENT Ji [STORY. 

and controversy ; their peculiar superstitions were of the most ab- 
surd and debasing nature ; and the manners of the people were ex- 
tremely loose and protiigate. 



SECTION IV. 

OF THE PHCENICIANS. 

1. The Phoenicians were among the most early civilized nations 
of the east. We are indebted to them for the invention of wiiting, 
and for t"iO first attempts at commercial navigation. The fragments 
of Satichoniatho are the most ancient monuments of writing after 
the books of Moses. Sanchoniatho was contemporary with Joshua, 
about 1440 A. C. and 500 before the cities of Attica were united by 
Theseus. 

2. The Phoenicians, (the Canaanites of scripture), were a com- 
mercial people in the days of Abraham. In the time of the Hebrew 
judges they had begun to colonize. Their hrst settlements were 
Cyprus and Rhodes ; thence they passed into Greece, Sicily, Sardinia, 
and Spain ; and formed establishments likewise on the western coast 
of Africa. The Sidonians carried on an extensive commerce at the 
time of the Trojan war. 



SECTION V. 

THE HISTORY OF GREECE. 

1. Greece being indebted for the first rudiments of civilization to 
the Egyptians and Phoenicians, its history is properly introduced by 
an account of those more ancient nations. 

2. The early antiquities oi' this country are disguised by fable; 
but from the time when it becemes important, it has been treated ol 
by eminent writers. 

3. The ancient inhabitants of Greece, the Pelasgi, Hiantes, Lele- 
ges, were extremely barbarous; but a dawning of civilization arose 
under the Titans, a Phoenician or Egyptian colony, who settled in 
the country about the lime of Moses. ' Tlie Titans gave the Gr^oJ' 



f 



the first ideas of religion, and introduced tlic >voisnip oi iheir own 
-ods, Saturn, Jupiter,X>res, &c. Succeeding ages confounded those 
^itans themselves with the gods, and henc<» sprung numberless fables. 

4. Inachus, the last of tf.e Titans, founded the kingdom of Argos, 
1 856 A. C. ; and Egialtes, one of his sons, the kingdom of Sicyon. . 

5. In the following century happened the deluge of Ogyges, 1796 
A. C. Then followed a perwd of barbarism for above 200 years. 

6. Cecrops, the leader of another colony from Egypt, landed in 
Attica, 1682 A. C; and, connecting himself with the last king, suc- 
ceeded, on his death, to the sovereignty. He built twelve cities, 
and was eminent, both as a lawgiver and politician. 

7. The Grecian hiatory derives some authenticity at this period 
from the Chronicle of Pares, preserved among the Arundelian mai^ 
1)1ps iit Oxford. The authority of this chronicle has been questioned 
of late, and many arguments adduced presumptive of its being a' 
forgery ; but, on a review of thewholeeontrrversy,we judge the tiP- 
^-v-^ents for its authenticity to preponderate. It fixes the dates of the. 



AINCIENT HISTORY. 23 

most remarkable events in the history of Greece, from the time of 
Cecrops down to the age of Alexander the great. 

8. Cranaus succeeded Cecrops, in whose time happened two re- 
markable events recorded in the Chronicle of Paros: the judgment 
of the areopagus between Mai-s and Neptune, two princes of Thessa- 
iy ; and the deluge of D<;ucalion. The court of areopagus, at Athens, 
was instituted by Cecrops. ^ The number of its judges varied at differ- 
ent periods, from nine to lifty-one. The deluge of Deucalion, magni- 
fied and disguised by the poets, was probably only a partial inundation, 

9. Amphyction, the contemporary of Cranaus, if the foundci' of 
the amphyctionic council, must have possessed extensive views ot 
policy. This council, Irom a league of twelve cities, became a 
representative assembly of the states of Greece, and had the most 
admirable political effects in uniting the nation, and giving it a com- 
mon interest. 

10. ■Cadmus-, about 1519, A. C, introduced alphabetic writing into 
Greece, from Phoenicia. The alphabet then haci only sixteen letters ; 
and ttie mode of writing (termed boustrophedon)^ was alternately from 
right to left and left to ri;;lit. From this period the Greeks made 
rapid advances in civilizaiion. 

SECTION VI. • 

REFLECTIONS ON THE FIRST AND RUDEST PERIODS OF 
THE GRECIAN HISTORY. 

1. The country of Greece presents a large, irregular peninsula, 
intersected by vnmy chains of mountains, separating its different 
districts, and opp-osing; niitnivd iaipi^dii-.iciils (o general intercourse, 
and therefore to rapid ci\ ilization. 'ihc <_'xhe!ne barbarism of the 
Pelasgi, who are said to iiave been cannibals, and ignorant of the 
use of tire, has its parallel in modern barbarous nations. There 
were many circumstances that retarded the progress of the Greeks 
to refinement. The introduction of a national religion was best tit- 
'^d to remove those obstacles, lieceiving this new system of theolo- 
Sy ''"om strangers, and entertaining at first very contused ideas of it, 
they v..-,yj^ naturally blend its doctrines and worship with the notions 
of religio, which they formerly possessed: and hence we observe 
only partial coincidences of the Grecian with the Egyptian and 
Phceniciaii myi^^oiogl':^. il l;a-^ b- 11 a vain and woarisome labour of 
modern mythologi^il writers, to attempt to trace all the fables of anti- 
quity, and the various systems of pagan theology, un to one commun 
source. The dilhculty o: 1 his Is best siiown, by'~C(jmparing the differ- 
ent and most contradictory solutions of the same fable given by difffr- 
ent mythologists ; as, for exai.>p!e, lord Bacon and the abbe'Banier, 
Some authors, with much indiscretion, i\ave attem.pted to deduce all 
the Pagan mythologies from the holy scriptures. Such researches 
are unprofitable, sometimes niischievo-is. 

2. Superstition, in tlie early periods, was a predominant charac- 
teristic of the Greeks. To this age, and to this character of the 
people, we refer the origin of the Grecian oracles, and the institu- 
tion of the public games in honour of the gods. 

The desire of penetrating into futurity, and the superstition com- 
mon to rude nations, gave rise to the oracles of Delphi, Dodona, &c. 

The resort of strangers to these oracles on particular occtisions, 
led to the celebration of a festival, and to public games. 



24 ANCIENT lllbTORY. 

The four solemn games o!' the Greeks, particularly termed t«;;ot, 
were the Olympic, the Pythian, the Nemean, and tlie Isthmian. 7 
They consisted principally in contests of skill in all the athletic ex 
ercises, and th.e prizes were chiefly honorary marks of distinction. 
Archbishop Potter, in his Jlrcluebgia Grceca, fully details their par- 
ticular nature. These games had excellent political effects, in pro- 
moting national union, in dilfusing the love of glory, and training the 
vouth to martial exercises. They cherished at once a heroical and 
superstitiouK spirit, which led to the formation of extraordinary and 
hazardous enterprises. 



SECTION VIl. 

iCARLY PERIOD OF THE GRECIAN HISTORY. THE ARGO- 
NAUTIC EXPEDITION. WARS OF THEBES AND OF TROY. 

1. The history of Greece, for a period of 300 yeais preceding 
the Trojan war, is intermiAcd with fables ; but contains, at the same 
time, many facts entitled to credit, as authentic. Erectheus, or Ericli- 
thonius, either a Greek who had visited Egypt, or the leader of a 
new Egyptian colony, cultivated the plains ot Eleusis, and instituted 
the Eleusinian mysteries, in imitation of the Egyptian games of Isis. 
These mysteries were of a religious and moral nature, conveying the 
doctrines of the unity of God, the immortality of the soul, and a 
future state of reward rird punishment. Cicero speaks of them 
with high encomium. But the ceremonies connected with them 
seem to be childish and ridiculous. 

2. Theseus laid the foundation of the grandeur of Attica, by unit- 
ing its twelve cities, and giving them a common constitution, 1267 
A. C. 

3. The first ereat enterprise of the Gieeks was the Argonautic 
enpedition, 1263 A. C. (Usher), and 937 A. C. (sir I. I^JewtonY 
This Is supposed to have been both a military and a mercantile ad- 
venture, and was singularly bold tor the times in v»hich it was under- 
taken. The object was, to open the commerce of the Euxine sea 
and to secure some establishments on its coasts. The a-strono"^*^^ 
Cldron directed the plan of the voyage, and tormcd, for the ^^^ ^* 
the marinei-s, a scheme of the constellations, iixing with '»ccuracy 
the solstitial and equinoctial points. Sir Isaac Kewtor'"'?^ io"l'"^" 
his emendation of th.e ancient chronology on a ca'^^^l^|^io" oi the 
regiUiir prcc'essioa of the equinoxes from this pe-'i'0«J to the present, 
as v/oll as on an estimate of the medium lenA^h ot human genera- 

4. The stale of the military art at thi^ Ume m Greece may be 
estimated from an account ct" the siege* of Thebes and Troy. 

In these enterprises the arts of attack and defence were very rude / 
and imperfect. The siege was entirely of the nature of blockade, and 
dierelbre necessarily o]' long duration. A dispute for the divided 
sovereignty of Thebes between the brothers Eteccles and Polynices, 
gave rise to the war, which was terminated by single combat, in 
which both were killed. 

5. Tlie sons of the commandei-s slain in this war renewcil the 
quarrel of their fathers, an! occasioned the war of the tpigmoi^ 
subject on which Homer is said to have written a poem, now lost, 
equal to the Iliad and Odys.sey. 



AJNCIENT HISTORY. 25 

6. The detail of the war of Troy rests chiefly; on the authority 
of Homer, and ought not, in spite of modem scepticism to be reius- 
ed, in its principal facts, the credit ot a true history. After a block- 
ade of ten years Troy was taken, either by storm or surprise, 1184 
A. C, and being set on fire in tne night, was burat to the ground ; 
not a vestige of its ruins existing at the present day. The empire fell 
from that moment. The Greeks settled a colony near the spot, and 
the rest of the kingdom was occupied by the Lydians. 

7. Military expeditions at this time were carried on only in the 
spring and summer. In a tedious siege the winter was a season of 
armistice. The science of military tactics was then utterly unknown, 
every battle being a multitude of single combats. The soldier had 
no pay but his share of the booty, divided by the chiefs. The 
weapons of war were the sword, the bow, the javelin, the club, the 
hatchet, and the sling. A helmet of brass, an enonnous shield, a 
cuirass, and buskins, were the weapons of defence. 



SECTION VIII. 
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE GREEK COLONIES. 

1. About eighty years after the taking of Troy, began the war of 
the Heraclidaj. Hercules, the son ot Amphitryon, sovereign of 
Mycenffi, v/as banished from his country with all his family, while 
the crown was possessed by a usurper. His descendants, after the 
period of a century, returned to reloponnesus, and subduing all 
their enemies, took possession of the states of Mycenae, Argos, anc" 
Lacedaemon. 

2. A long period of civil war and bloodshed succeeded, and Greece, 
divided among a number of petty tyrants, suffered equally the vaia- 
eries of oppression and anarchy. 

Codrus, king of Athens, showed a singular example of patriotism, 
in devoting himself to death for his country; yet the Athenians, 
weary of monarchy, determined to make the experiment of a popu- 
lar constitution. Medon, the son of Codrus. was elected chief magis- 
trate, with the title of archon. This is the commencement of the 
Athenian republic, about 1068 A. C. 

3. It was at this time that the Greeks began to colonize, llie 
oppression which they suffered at home forced many of them to 
abandon their country, and seek refuge in other lands. A large body 
of iEolians from Peloponnesus founded twelve cities in the Lesser 
Asia, of which Smyrna was the most considerable. A troop of 

onian exiles built Ephesus, Colophon, Clazomene, and other towns; 
giving to their new settlements the name of their native country^, 
Ionia. The Dorians sent oft colonies to Italy and Sicily, founding, in 
the former, Tarentum and Locri, and in the latter, Syracuse and 
Arigentum. The mother country considered its colonies as eman- 
cipated children. These speedily attained to eminence and splen- 
dour, rivalling and surpassing their parent states : and the example 
of their prosperity, wnich was attributed to the freedom of their 
governments, incited the states of Greece, oppressed by a number of 
petty despots, to put an end to the regal government, and try the 
experiment of a popular constitution. Athens and Thebee gave the 
first examples, which were soon followed by all the rest 

4. Those infant republics demaoded new laws; and it was necei- 



26 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

sary that some ehlighteiied citizen should arise, who had discernment 
to perceive what system of legislation was most adapted to the char- 
acter of his native state ; who had abilities to compile such a system, 
and sufficient authority with his countrymen to recommend and en- 
force it. Such men were the Spartan Lycurgus and the Athenian 
Solon. 

SECTION IX- 
THE REPUBLIC OF SPARTA. 

1. The origin of this political system has given rise to much inge- 
nious disquisition among the moderns, and aflfords a remarkable in- 
stance of the passion for systematizing. It is a prevailing propensity 
with modern philosophers to reduce eveiy thing to general princi- 
ples. Man, say they, is always the same animal, and, when placed 
in similar situations, will always exhibit a similar appearance. His 
manners, his improvements, the government and laws under which 
he lives, arise necessarily from the situation in which we tind him ; 
and all is the result of a few general laws of nature, which operate 
universally on the human species. But in the ardour of this passion 
for generalizing, these philosophers often forget, that it is the knowl- 
edge of facts which can alone lead to the discovery of general laws: 
a knowledge not limitf d to the history of a single age or nation, but 
extended to that of the whole species in every age and climate. 
Antecedently to such knowledge, all historical system is mere ro 
mance. 

2. Of this nature is a late theory of the constitution of Sparta, first 
etarted by Mr. Browne, in his Essay on Civil Liberty; and from him 
adopted by later writers. It thus accounts for the origin of the Spar- 
tan constitution.* " The army of the Hcraclida?, when they came to 
recover the dominion of their ancestors, was composed of Dorians 
from Thessaly, the most barbarous of all the Greek tribes. The 
Achasans, the ancient inhabitants of Laconia, were compelled to seek 
new habitations, while the barbarians of Thessaly took possession of 
Uieir country. Of all the nations which are the subject of historical 
record, this people bore the nearest resemblance to the rode Ameri- 
cans. An Americtm tribe where a chief presides, where the council 
of the aged deliberate, and tlie assembly of the people gives their 
voice, is on the eve of such a political establishment as the Spartan 
constitution." The Dorians or Thessalians settled in Lacedamon, 
manifested, it is said, the same manners with all other nations in a 
barbarous state. liycurgus did no more than arrest them in that state, 
by forming their usages into laws. He checked them at once in the 
first stage of their improvement. " He put forth a bold hand to that 
spring which is in society, and stopt its motion.-' 

3. This theory, however ingenious, is confuted by facts. All an- 
cient authors agree, tliut Lycurgus operated a total chtmgc^ en the 
Spartan manners, and on the constitr.tion of his country ; while the 
moderns have discovered that he made no change on either. The 
most striking features of the manners and constitution of Sparta had 
not the smallest resemblance to those of any rude nations with which 
we are acquainted. The communion of slaves and of many other 
species of property, the right of the state in the children of all the 

* J^gfan's Philosophy of History, &c. 



ANCIENT HISTORY. 27 

citizens, their common education, the public tables, the equal divi- 
sign of lands, the oath of government between (he kings and people, 
fi^ave no parallel in the history of any barbarous nation. 

4. The real history of Sparta and its constitution is therefore not 
to be found in modern theory, but in the writings of the Greek his- 
torians, and these are our sole authorities worthy of credit. 

After the return of the Heraclida?, Sparta was divided between 
the two sons of Aristodemus, Eurysthenes, and Procles, who jointly 
reigned ; and this double monarchy, transmitted to the descendant,? 
of each, continued in the separate branches for near 900 years. A 
radjcal principle of disunion, and consequent anarchy, made the want 
of constitutional laws be severely felt. Lycurgus, brother of Poly- 
dectes, one of the kings of Sparta, a man distinguished alike by his 
abilities and virtues, was invested, by the concurring voice of the 
sovereigns and people, v/ith the important duty of reforming and new- 
niOflelUng the constitution of his country, 884 A. C. 

5. Lyc'irgus instituted a senate, elective, of twenty-eight mem 
Ders; vvho<e office was to preserve a just balance between the pow- 
er of the kmgs and that of the people. Nothing could come before 
the assembly of the people which had not received the previous con- 
sent of the senate ; antl, on the other hand, no judgment of the sen- 
ate was elfectual without the sanction of the people. The kings pre- 
sided in the senate ; they were the generals of the republic : but 
they could plan no enterprise without the consent of a council of the 
citizen^!. 

6. l.ycurgus bent his attention most particularly to the regulation 
of manners ; and one great principle pervaded his whole system; 
Luxury is the bane of society. 

He (iivided the territory ol the republic into 39,000 equal portions, 
among the whole of its free citizens. 

He substitu-ted iron money for gold and silver, prohibited the prac- 
tice of commerce, abolished all useless arts, and allowed even those 
necessary to life to be practised only by the slaves. 

The whole citizens made their principal repast at the public ta- 
bles. The meals were coarse and parsimonious; the conversation 
was fitted to improve the youth in virtue, and cultivate the patriotic 
spirit. 

The Spartan education rejected all embellishments of the under- 
standing. It nourished only the severer virtues. It taught the du- 
ties o( religion, obedience to the laws, respect for parents, reverence 
for old age, intlexi'ole honour, undaunted courage, contempt of dan- 
ger and of death ; above all, the love of glory and of their country 

7. But the general excellence of the institutions of Lycurgus was 
impaired by many blemishes. The manners of the Lacedaemonian 
ivomen were shamefully loose. They frequented the baths, and 
fought naked in the paleestra promiscuously with the men. Theft 
was a part of Spartan education. The youth were taught to subdue 
the feelings of humanity ; the slaves were treated with the most bar- 
barous rigour, and often massacred for spoil. The institutions of 
Lycurgus had no other end than to form a nation of soldi-ers. 

8. A &>ul^r part of the constitution of Sparta was the office of the 
ephori; magistrates elected by the people, whose power, though in 
some respects subordinate, was in others paramount to that of he 
kingg and eenate. 



«8 AJNCIENT HISTORY. 

SECTION X. 
THE REPUBLIC OF ATHENS. 

I Oif the abolition of the regal office at Athens, the change of 
the constitution was more nominal than real. The archonship was, 
during three centuries, a perpetual and hereditary magistracy. In 
754 A. C. this office became decennial. In 648 the archons were 
annually elected and were nine in number, with equal authority. 
Under all these changes the state was convulsed, and the condition of 
the people miserable. 

2. Draco, elevated to the archonship 624 A. C, projected a reform 
in the constitution of his country, and tnought to repress disorders by 
the extreme severity of penal laws. But his talents were unequal 
to the task he had undertaken. 

3. Solon, an illustrious Athenian, of the race of Codrus, attained 
the dignity of archon 594 A. C , and was entrusted with the care of 
framing for his country a new form of government, and a new sys- 
tem of laws. He possessed extensive knowledge, but wanted that 
intrepidity of mind which is necessary to the character of a great 
statesman. His disposition was mild and temporizing ; and, without 
attempting to reform the manners of his countrymen, he accommo- 
dated his system to their prevailing habits and passions. 

4. The people claimed the sovereign power, and they received 
it ; the rich demanded offices and dignities : the system of Solon 
accommodated them to the utmost of their wishes. He divided the 
citizens into four classes, according to the measure of tlieir >vt;ultli. 
To the three first, the richer citizens, belonged all the offices of the 
commonwealth. The fourth, the poorer class, more numerous than 
all the other three, had an equal right of suffiage with them in the 

Sublic assembly, wnere all laws were framed, and measures of state 
ecreed. Consequently the weight of the hitter decided every ques- 
tion. 

5. To regulate in some degree the proceedings of those assem- 
blies, and balance the weight of the popular interest, Solon instituted 
a senate of 400 members (afterwards enlarged to 500 and 600), 
with whom it was necessary that every measure should originate, 
before it became the subject of discussion in the assembly of the 
people. 

6. To the court of areopagus he committed the guardianship of 
the laws, and the power of enforcing them; with the supreme 
administration of justice. To this tribunal belonged likewise the 
custody of the treasures of the state, the care of religion, and a 
tutorial power over aU the youth of the republic. The number of. 
its judges was various at different periods, and the most immaculate 
purity of character was essential to that high office. 

7. The authority of the senate and areopagus imposed some check 
on the popular assemblies; but as these possessed the ultimate right 
of decision, it was always in the power of ambitious demagogues to 
sway them to the worst of purposes. Continual factions divided the 
people, and corruption pervaded every department of the state. 
The public measures, the result of ihc interested schemes of indi- 
viduals, were often equally absurd as they were proHigate. Athens 
often saw her best patriots, the ^visest and most vu'tuous of her citi- 
zens, shamefully sacrificed to the most deprtived and most abando«ed. 



AI^CIENT HISTORY. 89 

8. The particular laws of the Athenian state are more deserving of 
encomiimi than its form of government. The laws relating to debt- 
ors were mild and equitable, as were those which regulated the 
treatment of slaves. But the vassalage of women, or their abso- 
lute subjection to the control of their nearest reFations, approached 
too near to a state of servitude. The proposer of a law found on 
experience impolitic was liable to punishment; an enactment ap- 
parently rigorous, but probably necessary in a popular government 

9. One most iniquitous and absurd peculiarity oi^the Athenian, and 
some other governments of Greece, was the picactice of the ostra- 
cism, a ballot of all the citizens, in which each wrote down the name 
of the person in his opinion most obnoxious to censure; and he who 
was thus marked out by the greatest number of voices, though un- 
impeached of any crime, was banished for ten years from his coun- 
try. This barbarous and disgraceful institution, ever capable of the 
grossest abuse, and generally^ subservient to the worst of purposes, 
has stained the character of Athens with many flagrant instances 
of public ingratitude. 

10. The manners of the Athenians formed the most striking con- 
trast to tho-^e of the Lacedaemonians. At Athens the arts were in 
the highest esteem. The Lacedsemonians despised the arts, and all 
who cultivated them. At Athens peace was the natural state of the 
republic, and the retined enjoyment ot lite the aim of all its subjects, 
Sparta was entirely a military establishment ; and her subjects, when 
unengaged in war, were totally unoccupied. Luxury was the char- 
acter of the Athenian, ;is frugality of the Spartan. They were 
equally jealous of their liberty, and eqiialiy brave in war. The 
courage "of the Spartans sprang from constitutional ferocity, that ol 
the Athenian from the principle of honour. 

11. The Spartan government had acquired solidity, while all the 
rest of Greece was torn by domestic dissensions. Athens, a prey to 
faction and civil disorder, surrendered her liberties to Pisistratus, 550 
A. C. ; who, after various turns of fortune, established himself firm- 
ly in the sovereignty, exercised a splendid and munificenc dominion, 
completely gained the afteciions of the people, and transmitted a 
peaceable crown to his sons Hippias and Hipparchus. 

12. Hermodias and Aristogiton undertook to restore the democra- 
cy ; and succeeded in the attempt. Hipparchus was put to death ; 
and Hippias, dethroned, solicited a foreign aid to replace him in the 
sovereignty. Darius, the son of Hystaspes, meditated at this time 
the conquest of Greece. Hippias took advantage of the views of 
an enemy against his native country, and Greece "'^s now involved 
in a war with Persia. 



SECTION XI. 

OF THE STATE OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE, AND ITS HISTORY 
DOWN TO THE WAR WITH GREECE. 

1. The first empire of the Assyrian? ended under Sardanapalus, and 
tliree monarchies arose upon its ruins, Nineveh, Babylon, and the 
kingdom of the Medes. 

2. The history of Babylon and of Nineveh is very imperfectly 
known. The Medes, hitherto independent tribes, were united under 
a monarchy by Dejoces. His son Phraortes conquered Persia, but wa« 

C 2 



90 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

himself vanquished by Nabuchodonosor 1., king of Assyria, and put 
to death. Nabuchodonosor II. led the Jews into captivity, took Je- 
rusalem and Tyro, and subdued Egypt. 

3. The history of Cyrus is involved in great uncertainty ; nor is 
it possible to reconcile or apply to one man the different accounts 
given of him by Herodotus, Ctesias, and Xenophon. Succeeding 
his fitther Cambyses in the throne of rersia, and his uncle Cyaxares 
in the sovereignty of the Medes, he united these empires, vanquish- 
ed the Babylonians and Lydians, subjected the greatest part of the 
Lesser Asia, and matie himself master of Syria and Arabia. 

4. He was succeeded by his son Cambyses, distinguished only as 
a tyrant and a madman. 

5. After the death of Cambyses, Darius, the son of HystaspeSj 
»vas elected sovereign of Persia, a prince of great enterprise and 
ambition. Unfortunate in a rash expedition against the Scythians, 
he projected and achieved the conquest of India. Inflated with suc- 
cess, he now meditated an invasion of Greece, and cordially entered 
into the vieivs of Hippias, who sought by his means to regain the 
sovereignty of Athens. 

6. Gorvemment^ Manners^ Lazvs^ tS'C of the Ancient ■ Pe sians. The 
government of Persia wasan absolute monarchy ; the will of the sov- 
ereign being subject to no control, and his person revered as sacred: 
yet the education bestowed by those monarchs on their children was 
calculated to inspire every valuable quality of a sovereign. 

The ancient Persians in general bestou-ed the utmost attention on 
the education of youth. Children at the age of live were committed ~ 
to the care of the magi, for the improvement of their mind and 
morals. They were trained at the same time to every manly exercise. 
The sacred books of the Zcndavcsta promised to every worthy parent 
the imputed merit and reward of all the good actions of his chil- 
dren. 

7. Luxurious as they were in after times, the early Persians were 
distinguished for their temperance, bravery, and virtuous simplicity 
of manners. They were all trained to tlie u^e of arms, and display- 
ed great intrepidity in war. The custom of the women following 
their armies to the held, erroneously attributed to effeminacy, Wiis 
a remnant of barbarous manners. 

8. The kingdom of Persia was divided into several provinces, each 
iind*»r a governor or satrap, who was accountable to the sovereign 
for the whole of his conduct. The prince, at stated times, visited 
his provinces in person, correcting all abuses, easing the burdens 
of the oppressed, nnd encouraging agriculture and the practice of 
the useful arts. The Uuvs of Persia were mild and equitable, and 
the utmost purity was observed in the administration of justice. ^ 

9. The religion of the ancient Persians is of great antiquity. It 
is conjectured that there were two'^Zoroasters ; the first, the founder 
of this ancient religion, and of whom are recorded miracles and 
prophecies ; the second, a reformer of that religion, contemporary 
with Darius the son of Hystaspes. The Zenduvesla^ or sacred book, 
compiled by the former, was improved and purified by the latter, 
It has been lately translated into French by M. Anquetil, and appears 
to contain, amidst a mass of absurdity, some sublime truths, and ex- 
cellent precepts of morality. The theology of the Zendavesta is 
founded on the doctrine of two opposite principles, a good and an 
evil, Ormusd and Ahriman, eternal beings, who divide between them 
the govemmeut of the universe, and whose warfare must endure till 



ANCIENT HISTORY. 3i 

the end of 1 2,000 years, when the good will finally prevail over the 
evil. A separation will ensue of the votaries of each : the just shall 
be admitted to Lie immediate enjoyment of Paradise ; the wicked, 
after a Umited purification by fire, shall ultimately be allowed to par-, 
take in the blessings of eternity. Ormasd is to be adored through 
the medium of his greatest works, the sun, moon, and stars. ^iTie 
fire, the symbol of the sun, the air, the earth, the water, have their 
subordinate worshijj. 

The morality ot the Zendavcsta is best known ft-om its abridg- 
ment, the Sculder. complied about three centuries ago by the modem 
Guebres. i*c inculcates a ch-.t-itened species of epicurism; allowing 
a free indulgence of the passions, while consistent with the welfire 
of society. It prohibits equally intempenmcc and ascetic moj-tirica- 
tion. It recommends, as precepts of religion, the cultivation of the 
earth, the planting of fruit-trees, the destruction of noxious animals, 
the bringing water to a barren land. 

10. Such were the ancient Persians. But their character had un- 
dergone a great change before the period of the war with Greece. 
At tliis time they were a degenerate and corrupted people. Athens 
had recently thrown off" the yoke of the Pisistratidae, and highly val- 
ued her new liberty. Sparta, in the ardour of patriotism, forgot all 
jealousy of her rival state, and cordially united in the defence of 
their common country. Tlie Persians, in this contest, had no other 
advantage than that of numbers, an unequal match for superior hero- 
ism and military sJcill. 



SECTION XI 1. 

THE WAR BETWEEN GREECE AND PERSIA. 

1 . The ambition of Darius, the son of Hyslaspes, heightened by the 
passion of revenge, gave rise to the project ol that monarch for the 
invasion of Greece. The Athenians nad aided the people of Ionia in 
an attempt to throw olT the yoke of Persia, and burnt and ravaged 
Sardis, the capital of Lydia. Darius speedily reduced the lonians to 
submission, and then turned his arms against the Greeks, their allies ; 
the exile Hippias eagerly prompting tlie expedition. 

2. After an insolent demand of submission, which the Greeks scorn- 
fully refused, Darius began a hostile attack both by sea and land. 
The first Persian fleet was wrecked in doubling the promontory of 
Athos; a second, of 600 sail, ravaged the Grecian islands; while an 
immense army landing in Euboea, poured down with impetuosity on 
Attica. The Athenians^ met them on the plain of Marathon, and, 
headed by Miltiades, defeated them with prodigious slaughter, 490 
A. C. The loss of the Persians in this biittle Avas 6,300, and that of 
the Athenians 190. 

3. The merit of Miltiades, signally displayed in this great battle, 
was repaid by his country with tlie most shocking ingratitude. Ac- 
cused of treason for an unsuccessful attack on tbe isle of Paros, his 
sentence of death was commuted into a fine of fifty talents ; which 
being unable to pay he \vas thrown into prison, and there died of his 
wounds. 

4. The glory of ungrateful Athens wa5 yet nobly sustained in tlie 
Persian war by The'^istocles and Aristides. Darius dying was suc- 
eoeded by bis son Xerxes, the heir of his father's ambition, but not of 



^2 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

his abilities. He anned, as is said, five millions of men, for the con- 
quest of Greece; 1,200 ships of war, and 3,000 ships of burden. 
Luadbg in Thessaly he proceeded, by rapid marches, to Thermop- 
ylae, a narrow defile on the Sinus Maliacm. The Athenians and 
.Spartans, aided only by the Thespian.^, Platasans, and Eginetes, de- 
termined to nithstand the invader, l.eonidas, king of Sparla, was 
chosen to defend this important pass with 6,000 men. Xerxes, after 
a weak attempt to corrupt him, imperionsly summoned him to lay 
down his ai-m^. Let hvn come^ g|ud Lconidas, and take them. For two 
days the Fei-sians in vain strove to force their way, and were repeat- 
edly repulsed with great slaughter. An unguarded track being at 
length discovered, the defence, of the pass became a fruitless attempt 
on tfie part of the Greeks. Leonidas, foreseeing certain destruction, 
commanded all to retire but 300 of his countrymen. His motive was 
to give the Persians a just idea of the spirit of that foe whom they 
had to encounter. He, with his briive Sjjartans, were all cut off to a 
man, 480 A. C. A monument, erected on the spot, bore tliis noble 
inscription, written by Simonides : O stranger I tell it at Lucedcemon^ 
that we died here in obedience to ficr lan's. 

b. The Fei-sians poured down upon Attica. The inhabitants of 
Athens, after conveying their women and children to the islands for 
security, betook themselves to their lleet, abandoning the city, which 
the Persians pillaged and burnt. The fleet of the Greeks, consisting 
of 380 sail, \\ <5 attacked in the straits of Sal.miis by that of the Per- 
sians, amounting to 1,200 ships. Xerxes himself beheld from an em- 
inence on the coast the total discomfiture of his squadron. He then 
tied with precipiUUion across the Hellespont. A second overthrow 
awaited his army by land : for Mardonius, at the head of 300,000 
Persians, was totally defeated at Plat-j>a by the combined army of the 
Athenians and Laceda?jnonians, 479 A. C. On the same day the 
Greeks engaged and destroyed the remains of the Persian fleet at 
Mycale. I'Vom that day the ambitious schemes of Xerxes were al 
an end ; and his inglorious life was soon after terminated by assassina 
ticn. He w as succeeded in the throne of Persia by his son Artaxerxes 
Eongimanus, 464 A. C. 

6. At this lime the national character of the Greeks was at its highest 
(devation. The common danger had annihilateil all partial jealousies 
between the states, and given them union as a nation. But with the 
cessation of danger those jealousie.s recommenced. Sparta meaidy 
opposed the rebuilding of deserted Athens. Athens, rising again into 
si)lendour, saw \\'\\h pleasure the depopulation of Sparta by an eartli- 
quake, ;uid hesitated to give her aid in that juncture of calamity 
against a rebellion of her slaves. 

7. Cimon, the ion of MiUiades. after expelhng the Persians from 
Thnice, attacked and destroyed tneir deet on the coast of Pamphylia, 
and, landing his troops, gained a signal victory over their army the 
same day. Supplanted in the public favour by the arts of his rival 
Pericles, he suffered a temporary exile, to return only with higher 
popularity, and to signalize himself still more in the service of his 
ungrateful country. He attacked and totally destroyed the Persian 
fleet of 300 sail, and, landing in Cilicia, completed his triumph, by 
defeating 300,000 Persians under Megabyzes, 460 A. C. Artaxerxes 
now had the prudence to sue for peace, which was granted by the 
Greeks, on terms most honourable to the nation. They stipulated 
for the freedom of all the Grecian cities of Asia, and that the fleets of 
Persia should not approach their coasts from the Euxine to the ex- 



ANCIENT HISTORY. S3 

boandary of Pamphylia. The last fifty years were the period 
of the highest glory of tne Greeks ; and they owed their prosperity 
entirely to their union. The peace with Persia, dissolving that con 
nexion, brought back the jealousies between the pcedominant states, 
the intestine disorders of each, and the national weakness. 

8. The martial and the patriotic spirit began visibly to decline in 
Athens. An acquaintance with Asia^ and an importation of her 
wealth, introduced a relrsh for Asiatic manners and luxuries. With 
the Athenians, however, this luxurious spii'it was under the guidance 
of taste and genius. It led to the cultivation of the finer arts ; and 
the age of Pericles, though the national glory was in its wane, is the 
aera of the highest internal splendour and magnificence of Greece. 



SECTION XIII. 
AGE OF PERICLES. 

1. Repubucs, equally with monarchies, are generally regulateJ 
by a single will : only, in the former there is a more frequent change 
of masters. Pericles ruled Athens with little less than arbitrai-j 
sway ; and Athens pretended at this time to the command of Greece 
She held the allied states in the most absolute sul)jcction, and lavished 
their subsidies, bestowed for the national defence, in magnificent 
buildings, games, and festivals, for her own citizens. The tributary 
states loudly complained, but durst not call this domineering republic 
to account ; and the war of Peloponnesus, dividing the nation into 
two great parties, bound the less cities to tho strictent subordination 
on the predominant powers. 

2. TJie state of Corinth had been included in the last treaty be- 
tween Athens and Sparta. The Corinthians waging war with the 
people of Corcyra, an ancient colony of their own, both parties so- 
licited the aid of Athens, which took part with the latter : a measure 
which the Corinthians complained of, not only as an infraction of the 
treaty with Sparta, but ;<s a breach of a general rule of the national 
policy, that no foreign power should interfere in the disputes between 
a colony and its parent state. War was proclaimed on this ground 
between Athens and Lacedasmon, each supported by its respective 
allies. The detail of the war, which continued for twenty-eight 
years, with various and alternate success, is to be found in llmcyd- 
ides. Pericles died before its termination ; a splendid ornament of 
his country, but a corrupter of its manners. Alcibiades ran a similar 
career, with equal talents, equal ambition, and still kss purity ol 
moral principle. In the intei'val of a truce with Sparta he inconsid 
erately projected the conquest of Sicily ; and, failing in the attempt, 
was, on nis return to Athens, condemned to death for treason. He 
hesitated not to wreak his vengeance a-gainst his country, by selling 
nis services, first to Sparta, and afterwards to Persia. Finally, he 
purchased his peace with his country, by betraying the poweR 
which protected him, and returned to Athens the idol of a populace 
as versatile as worthless. 

3. A fatal defeat of the Athenian fleet at ^Egos Potamos, by Ly- 
sander, reduced Athens to the last extremity; and the Lacedaemonians 
blockaded the city by land and sea. The war was ended by the 
absolute submission oi tlie Athenians, who agreed to demolish their 
port, to limit their fleet to twelve ships, and undertake for the future 



34 ANCJENT HISTORV. 

no military enterprise, but under command of the Lacedaemonians^ 
405 A. C. 

4. To the same Lysaoder, who terminated the Peloponnesipn war 
so gloriously for Lacedaemon, history ascribes the first great breach 
of the constitution of his country, by the introduction of gold into 
that republic. Lysander, tifter the reduction of Athens, abolished 
tlie popular government in that state, and substituted in its place 
tliirty tyrants, whose power was absolut-o. The most eminent of 
tlie citizens tied from their country: but a band of patriots, headed 
by Thrasybulus, attacked, vanquished, and expelled the usurpers, 
find once more re-established the democracy. 

6. One event, which happened at tins time, reflected more disgrace 
on the Athenian name than their national humiliation : this was the per- 
secution and death of Socrates, a philosopher who was himself the 
fjatteni of every virtue which he taught. I'he sophists, whose futile 
ogic he derided and exposed, represented him as an enemy tc the 
religion of liis country, because, without regard to the popular su- 
perstitions, iie led the mind to the knowledge of a Supreme Being, 
the creator and ruler of the universe, and to the belief 'of a future 
state of retribution. He made his defence with the manly iortitude of 
conscious innocence ; but in vain : his judges were his personal ene- 
mies, and he Avas condemned to die by poison, 397 A. C. (See Sec- 
tion XXIII, § 5.) 

6. On the death of Darius Nothus, his eldest son Artaxerxes Mne- 
mon succeeded to the empire of Persia. His younger brother Cyrus 
formed the project of dethroning him, and with the aid of 13,000 
Greeks engaged him near Babylon, but was defeated and slain ; a 
just reward of his most culpable enterprise. The remainder of the 
Grecian army, to the amount of 10,000, under the command of Xen- 
ophon, made a most amazing retreat, traversing a hostile country of 
1,G00 miles in extent, from Babylon to the banks of the Euxine Xen- 
ophon has beautifully written the history of this expedition ; but has 
painted the character of Cyrus in too flattering colours, and without 
the smallest censure of his ciiminal ambition. 

7. The Greek cities of Asia had taken part with Cynas. Sparta 
was engaged to defend her countrymen, and consequently was in- 
volved in a war with Persia. Had Athens added her strength, the 
Greeks might have once more defied the power of Asia; but jealousy 
kept the states divided, and even hostile to cacli other; and "the gold 
of Artaxerxes excited a general league in Greece against Lacedaj- 
mon. Agesilaus, king of Sparta, sustained for a time the honour of 
his country, and won some important battles in Asia; but ctliers were 
lost in Greece ; and a naval defeat near Cnidos utterly destroyed the 
Lacedaemonian fleet. Finally, to escape total destruction, the Spartans 
sued for peace, and obtained it by the sacrifice to Persia of all the 
Asiatic colonies, 387 A. C. Artaxerxes furthei demanded, and obtain- 
ed for his allies the Athenians, the islands of Scyros, Lemnos, and Im- 
bro3 : a disgraceful treaty; a mortifying picture of the humiliation of 
the Greeks. 






ANCIENT HISTORY. 35 

SECTION XIV. 
THE REPUBLIC OF TflEBES. 

1. While Athens and Sparta were thus visibly tending to decline, 
ihe Theban repubUc emerged from obscurity,'and rose tor a time 
to u degree of splendour eclipsing all its contemporary states. The 
republic was divided by faction, one party supporting its ancient (le- 
inocracy, and the other aiming at the establishment of an oligarchy. 
The latter courted the aid of the Spartans, Avho embraced that occa- 
sion to take possession of the citadel. Four hundred of the exiled 
Thebans tied for protection to Athens. Among these was Felopidas, 
who planned and accomplished the deliverance of his country. Dis- 
guising himself and twelve of his friends as peasants, he entered 
Thebes in the evening, and joining a patriotic party of the citizens, 
they surprised the heads of the usurpation amid the tumult of afe;ist, 
and put them all to death. Epaminondas, the fiiend of Pelopidas, 
shared with him in the glory of this enterprise: and attacking, with 
the aid of 5,000 Athenians, the Lacedeemonian garrison, drove them 
entirely out of the Theban territory. 

2. A war necessarily ensued between Thebes and Sparta, in v/hich 
the former had the aid of Athens. This, however, was but for a sea- 
son. Thebes singly opposed the power of Sparta, and the league of 
Greece : but Epaminondas and Pelopidas were her generals. The 
latter, amidst a career of glory, perished in an expedition against 
the tyrant of Phersea. Epaminondas, triumphant at Leuctra and Man- 
tinea, fell in that last engagement, and with him exjwred the glory of 
ru-3 country, 363 A. C. Atiiens and Sparta were humbled at the hattle 
of Blantinea. Thebes was \ictorious ; but she was undone by the death 
of Epaminondas. All parties were tired of the war; and Artaxcrxes, 
more powerful among those iniatuated states than in his o^vn domin- 
ions, dictated the terms of the treaty. It was stipulated that each 
power should retain what it possessed ; atid that the less slates, now 
free from the yoke of the greater, should remain so. 



SECTiOlN^ XV. 
PHILIP OF MACEDON. 

1, Greece was now in the most abject situation. The spirit of 

Satriotism appeared utterly extinct, and military glory at an end. 
thens seemed to have lost all ambition ; the pleasures of luxury Iiad 
entirely supplanted heroic virtue ; poets, musicians, sculptoi-s, and 
comethans, were now the only great men- of Attica. Sparta, no less 
changed from the simplicity of its ancient manners, and Us power 
abridged by the new independency of the states of Peloponnesus, 
was in no capacity to attempt a recovery of its former greatness. In 
this situation Philip of Macedon formed the ambitious project of bi ing- 
ing under his dominion the whole of Greece. 

2. He had mounted the throne of Macedon by popular choice, in 
violation of the natural right of the nearer heirs to the crown; and 
he secured his power by the success of his arms against the Illyrians, 
Paeonians, and Athenians, w ho espoused the interest of his competitorsi. 
Uoitiog to great military talents the most consummate artitice and ad- 



S6 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

dress, he had his pensionaries in all the states of Greece, who direct- 
ed to his advantage every public measure. The miserable policy 
of these states, embroiled in perpetual quarrels, co-operated with his 
designs. A sacrilegious attempt of the Phocians to plunder the tei». 
pie of Delphos excited the sacred tear, in which almost all the repub- 
lics took a part. Philip's aid being courted by the Thebans and 
Thessalians, he began hostiUties by invading Phocis, the key to the 
territory of Attica. iEschines. the orator, bribed to his interest, at 
tempted to quiet the alarms cf the Athenians, by ascribing to Philip 
a design only of punishing sacrilege, and vindicating the cause of 
Apollo. Demosthenes, with true patriotism, exposed the artful de- 
signs of the invader, and with the most aniraated eloquence roused 
bis countrymen to a vigorous ellbrt for the preservation of their nat- 
ural liberties. But tbe event was unsuccessful The battle of Che- 
ronasa, fought 337 A. C, decided the fate of Greece, and subjected all 
the states to the dominion of the king of Macedon. But it was not 
his policy to treat them as a conquered people. They retained their 
separate and independent governments, while he controlled and direct 
ed ajl the national measures. Convoking a general council of the states, 
Philip was appointed commander in chief of the forces of the nation ; 
and he laid before them his project for the conquest of Persia, ap- 
pointing each republic to furnish its proportional subsidies. On the 
eve of this great enterprise Philip was assassinated by Pausanias. a 
captain of his guards, in revenge ot a private injury, 336 A. C. Tne 
Athenians, on the death of Philip, meanly expressed the most tunml 
tuous joy, in the hope of a recovery of their liberty ; but this vision- 
ary prospect was never realized. The spirit of the nation was gone ; 
and in their subsequent revolutions they only changed their masters. 

SECTION XVI. 

ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 

1. Alexander, the son of Philip, succeeded at the age of twenty to 
the throne of Macedon, and, after a (ew successful battles against the 
revolted states, to the command of Greece. Assembling the deputies 
of the nation at Corinth, he communicated to them his resolution of 
prosecuting the designs of his father for the conquest of Persia. 

2. With an army of 30,000 foot, and 5,000 horse, the sum of 70 tal- 
ents, and provisions only for a single month, he crossed the Hellespont, 
and in traversing Phrygia visitcti the tomb of Achilles. Darius Co 
domanus, resolved to crush at once this inconsiderate youth, met him 
on the banks of the Granicus with 100,000 foot and 10,000 horse. 
The Greeks swam the river, their king leading the van, and, attack- 
ing the astonished Persians, left 20,000 dead upon the field, and put to 
tiight their whole army. Drawing from his lirst success a presage 
of continued victory, Alexander now sent home his fleet, leaving to 
his army the sole alternative, that they must subdue Asia or perish. 
Prosecuting their course for some time without resistance, the Greeks 
were attacked by the Persians in a narrow valley of Cilicia, near the 
town of Issus. The Persian host amounted to 400,000 ; but their sit- 
uation was such that only a small part could come into action, and 
they were defeated with prodigious slaughter. The loss of the Per- 
sians in this battle was 110,000 ; that of the Greeks (according to Q. 
Curtiua) only 450. 



ANCIENT HISTROY. 37 

S. The history of Alexander by Quintus Curtius, though a mos< 
elegant composition, is extremely suspicious on the score of autheo- 
tic information. Arrian is the best authority. 

4. The generosity of Alexander was displayed after the battle of 
Issus, ill his attention to his noble prisoners, the mother, the wife, 
and family of Darius. To the credit of Alexander it must be owned 
that humanity, however overpowered, and at times extinguished by 
his passions, certainly formed a part of his natural character. 

5. The consequence of the battle of Issus was the submission of 
all Syria. Damascus, where Darius had deposited his chief treasures- 
was "betrayed and given up by its governor. The Phoenicians were 

E leased to see themselves thus avenged for the oppression which they 
ad suffered under the yoke of Persia. 

6. Alexander had hitherto borne his good fortune with moderation. 
Felix, says Curtius, si liac continentia ad ultimum viice perseverare pot- 
uisset ; sed nondum Fortuna se aniiiio cjm infuderat* He directed his 
course towards Tyre, and desired admittance to perform a sacrifice 
to Hercules. The Tyrians shut their gates, and maintained tor seven 
months a noble defence. The city was at length taken by storm, 
and the victor glutted his revenge by the inhuman massacre of 8,000 
of the inhabitants. The fate of Gaza, gioriously defended by Betis, was 
equally deplorable to its citizens, and more disgraceful to the con- 
queror. Ten thousand of the former were sold into slavery, and its 
brave defender dragged at the wheels of the victor's chariot : Ghri- 
ante rege, Achiilcm, a quo genus ipse dediiccrct, imitatum sc esse, pana 
in hosiein capiendu.^ Curtius. 

7. The taking of Gaza opened Egypt to Alexander, and the whole 
country submitted without opposition. The course he now pursued 
demoastrated that in his conquests he followed no determined plan. 
Amidst the most incredible tatigues, he led his army through the 
desei-ts of Lybia, to visit the temple of his father, Jupiter Ammon. On 
his return he built Alexandria, at the mouth of the INile, afterwards the 
capital of the Lower Egypt, and one of the most flourishing cities in 
the world. Twenty other cities of the same name were reared by 
him in the course of his conquests. It is such works as these that 
justly entitle the Macedonian to the epithet of Great. By rearing 
in the midst of deserts those nurseries of population and of industry, 
he repaired the waste and havoc of his conquests. Except for those 
monuments of his glory, he would have merited no other epithet 
than that assigned him by the brahmins of India, The Mighty Murderer. 

8 Returning from Egypt, Alexander traversed Assyria, and was 
met at Arbela by Darius, at the head of 700,000 men. The Persian 
had proffered peace, consenting to yield the whole cotmtry from the 
Euphrates to the Hellespont, to give Alexander his daughter in mar- 
riage, and the immense sum of 10,000 talents. But these terms 
were haughtily rejected, and peace offered only upon the unquahtied 
submission of his enemy. The Persians were defeated at Arbela, 
with the loss of 300,000 men. Dai ius fled from province to province. 
At length betrayed by Bessus, one of his own satraps, he was cruelly 
murdered; and the Persian empire, which had subsisted for 206 
years trom the time of Cyrus the great, submitted to the conqueror, 
o»30 A. C 

• Happ7 if he could have persevered in this temperance to the end of 
ttia life, but Fortune had not yet poisoned his mind. 

+ The king^ boasting that he imitated Achilles, from whom he supposed 
hmiself descended, ia the infliction of this puniahinent upon his enemy. 



38 ANCIENT HISTOKY 

9. Alexander now projected the conquest of India, firmly persuad- 
ed that the gods had decreed him the sovereignty ot the whole hab- 
itable globe. He penetrated to the Ganges, and would have pro- 
ceeded to the eastern ocean, if the spirit of his army had kept pace 
wilh his ambition. But his troops, seeing no end to their toils, refus- 
ed to proceed. He returned to the Indus, whence sending round his 
fleet to the Persian gulf under Nearchus, he marched his army 
across the desert to Persepolis. 

10. Indignant that he had found a hmit to his conquests, he abandoned 
himself to every excess of luxury and debauchery. The arrogance 
of his nature, and the ardour of his passions, heightened by continual 
intemperance, broke out into the most outrageous excesses of cruelty, 
jbr which, in the few intervals of sober reflection, his ingenuous 
mind suftered the keenest remorse. From Persepolis he returned 
to Babylon, and there died in a fit of debauch, in the thirty-third year 
of his "age, and thirteenth of his reign, [^24 A. C. 

11. Of the character of Alexander the most opposite and contra- 
dictory estimates have been I'ormed. While by seme he is esteemed 
nothing better than a fortunate madman, he is by others celebrated 
for the giiandeur, wisdom, and solidity of his political views. Trutli 
is rarely to be ibund in extreme censure or applause. We may al- 
low tc Alexander the spirit and the talents of a great military genius, 
wilhoutcombining with these the sober plans of a prolbund politician. 
In a moral view of his ciiaracter, we see an excellent and ingenuous 
nature corrupted at length by an unvarying current of success, and a 
striking example of the fataj violence of the pas.-:ions, when eminence 
of fortune removes all restraint, and flattery stimulates to their uo 
controlled indulgence. 



SECTION XVII. 

SUCCESSORS OF ALEXANDER. 

1. Ai.EXA.NDER, on hls death-bed, named no successor, but gave hw 
ruig to Perdiccas, one of his otficers. When his courtiers asked him 
to w hom he w ished the empire to devolve upon his death, he rephed, 
" To the most u orthy ;*'' and he is said to have added, that he fore- 
saw this legacy would prepare for him very extraordinary funeral 
rites; a prediction which was fully verified. 

2. Perdiccas, sensible that his pretensions would not justify a di- 
rect assumption of the government of this vast empire, brought about 
a division of the whole among thirty-three of the principal ollicers; 
and trusting to their inevitable dissensions, he proposed by that means 
to reduce all of them under his own authority. Hence arose a series 
of wars and intrigues, of which the detail is barren both of amuse- 
ment and useful inlbrm.ation. It is suflicient to say, that their conse- 
quence was a total extirpation of the family of Alexander, and a new 
partition of the empire into four great monarchies, the shares of 
Ptolemy, Lysimachus, Cassander, and Seleucus. Of these the most 
powerful were that of Syria under Seleucus and his descendants, and 
that of Egypt the Ptolemies. 

" We cannot ^says Condillac) fix our attention on the history of 
the successors of Ale^^ntler, though a great theatre is opened to our 
view, a variety of scenes, and multiplied catiistrophes. A picture is 
otien displeasing from the very circumstance of its greatness. We 



ANCIENT HISTORY. 39 

lose the connexion of its parts, because the eye cannot take them in 
at once. Still less will a large picture give us pleasure, if every part 
of it presents a different scene, each unconnected with the other." 
Such is the history of the successors of Alexander. 



SECTION XVIII. 



FALL AND CONQUEST OF GREECE. 

1. Nor is the history of Greece from the period of the death of Al- 
exander any longer on interesting or pleasing object of contemplation. 
Demosthenes once more made a noble attempt to vindicate the nation- 
al freedom, and to rouse his countrymen, the Athenians, to shake off 
the yoke of Macedon. But it was too late. The pacific counsels of 
Phocion suited better tho languid spirit of this once illustrious people. 

2. The history of the different republics present irom this time 
nothing but a disgusting scries of uninteresting revolutions ; with the 
exception only of that last efll'ort made by the Achaean states to re- 
vive the expiring liberty of their country. The republic of Achaia 
was a league of a few of the smaller states to vindicate their freedom 
against the domineerhig spirit of the greater. They committed tho 
government of the league to Aratus of Sicyon, with the title of pi as- 
ter, a young m..n of high ambition, who immediately conceived the 
more extensive project of rescuing the whole of Greece from the 
dominion of Macedon. But the jealousy of the greater states render- 
ed this scheme abortive. Sparta refused to arrange itself under tlie 
guidance of the praslor of Achaia : and Aratus, forgetting his patriotic 
designs, sought only now to wi'eak his vengeance against the Lace- 
daemonians For this purpose, with the most inconsistent policy, he. 
courted the aid even of the Macedonians : the very tyrants who had 
enslaved his country. 

3. The period was now come for the intervention of a foreign 
power, which ivas to reduce all under its'wide-spreading dominion. 
The Romans were at this time the most powerful of all the contem- 
iiorary nations. The people of Etolia, attacked by the Macedonians, 
with a rash policy besought the aid of the Romans, who, eager to 
add to their dominion this devoted country, cheerfully obeyed the 
summons, and speedily accomplished the reduction of jMacedonia. 
Perseus, its last sovereign, was led captive to Rome, and graced the 
triumph of Paulus iEmilius, 167 A. C. From that period the Ro- 
mans were hastily advancing to the dominion of all Greece ; a prog 
ress in which their art was more conspicuous than their virtue. 
They gained their end by fostering dissensions between the stateSj) 
which they directed to their own advantage^ corrupting their princi- 
pal citizens, and using, in tine, every art of the most insidious policy. 
A pretext was only svanting to unsheath the sword, and this was 
furnished bv the Achaean states, who insulted the deputies of imperi- 
al Rome. This drew on them at once the resentment of the Romans. 
Metellus marched his legions into Greece, gave them battle, and en- 
tirely defeated them. Mummius the consul terminated the work, 
and made an easy conquest of the whole of Greece, which from that 
period became a Roman province, under the name of Achaia, 1 46 A. C 

4. Rome had acquired from her conquests a flood of wealth, and 
began now to manifest a taste for luxury, and a spirit of refinement. 



40 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

In these points Greece was to its conquerors an instructer and a 
model: 

Graecia capta ferum viotorem cepit, et artes 
Intulit agresti Latio.* — ■ 

Hence, even though vanquished, it was regarded with a species of 
respect by its ruder masters. 



SECTION XIX. 

POLITICAL REFLECTIONS ARISING FROM THE HISTORY 

OF THE STATES OF GREECE. 

1. The i-evolutions which the states of Greece underwent, and the 
situations into which they were thrown by their connexion and differ- 
ences with each otlier, and their wars with foreign nations, were so 
various, thattlieir history is a school of instruction in political science. 
The surest test of the truth or falsehood of abstract principles of pol- 
itics, is their application to actual experience and to the history of 
nations. 

2. The oppression which the states of Greece suffered under their 
ancient despots, who were subject to no constitutional control, was a 
most justifiable motive for their establishing a new form of govern- 
ment, which promised them the enjoyment of greater political free- 
dom. We believe too that those new forms of govern*nent were fram- 
ed by their virtuous legislators in the true spirit of patriotism. But 
as to the real merits of those political fabrics, it is certain that they 
were very far from corresponding in practice with what was expect- 
ed from them in theory. We seek in vain, either in the history of 
Athens or Lacedaemon, For the beautiful idea of a \vell-ordered common- 
wealth. The revolutions of government which they were ever ex- 
periencing, the eternal tactions witli wliich they were embroiled, 
plainly demonstrate that there Avas a radical defect in the structure of 
the machine, which precluded the possibility of regular motion. The 
condition of the people under those governments was such as par- 
took more of servitude and oppression, than that of the subjects of^the 
most despotic monarchies. Tne slaves formed the actual majority of 
the inhaoitants in all the states of Greece. To these the free citi- 
zens were rigorous bond-masters. Bondage being a consequence of 
the contraction of debts even by freemen, a great proportion of these 
was subject to the tyrannical control of their fellow-citizens. Nor 
were the richer classes in the actual enjoyment of independence. 
They were perpetually divided into factions, which servilely ranked 
themselves under the banners of the contending chiets of the repub- 
lic. Those parties were kept together solely by corruption. The 
whole was therefore a system of servility and debasement of spirit^ 
which leil nothing of a free or ingenuous nature in the condition of in- 
dividuals, nor any thing that could furnish encomium to a real advo- 
cate for the dignity of human nature. 

Such was the condition of the chief republics of antiquity. Their 
governments promised in theory, what they never conferred in prao* 
tice, the political happiness of the citizens. 

• For conquered Greece subdued her coaquering^ foej 
And tau^^ht rude Rome) the arts of peace to lOMnr* 



AJNCIENT HISTORY. 41 

S. " In democracy (says Dr. Fergusson) men must love equality ; 
they must respect the rights of their fellow-citizens ; they must be 
Batistied with th;rt degree of consideration which they can procure by 
their abilities tairly me<isured against those of an opponent; they 
must labour for the public without hope of profit : they must reject 
every attempt to create a personal dependance." This is the picture 
of a republic in theory, if we revei-se this picture in every single 
particular, and take its direct opposite, we shall have the true por- 
trait of a rcpublix;an government in practice. 

4. It is the fundamental theory of Montesquieu's Spirit of La-aos^ 
fhat the three distinct tbrms of government, the monarchical, despot- 
ical, and republican, are influenced by the three separate principles 
of honour, fear, and virtue ; and this theory is the foundation on 
which the author builds a great part of his political doctrines. That 
each of these principles is exclusively essential to its respective form 
of government, but unnecessary and even prejudicial in the others, is a 
position contrary both to reason and to truth. No form of govern- 
ment can subsist where every one of those principles has not ita 
operation. The admission of^sucli a theory leads to the most mis- 
chievous conclusions ; as, for example, that in monarchies the state 
dispenses with virtue in its officers and magistrates; that pnblic 
employments ought to be venal; and that crimes, if kept secret, are 
of no consequence. 

5. It is only in the infant periods of tiie Grecian history that we 
are to look for those splendid examples of patriotism and heroic vir- 
tue, which the ardent mind of uncorrupted youth will ever delight 
to contemplate. The most remarkable circumstance which strikes 
us on comparing the latter ^vith the more early periods of the his- 
tory of the Greeks, is the total change in the genius and spirit of the 
people: The ardour of patriolism, the thirst of miUlary glory, the 
enthusiasm of hberty, decline with the rising grandeur and opulence 
of the nation, and an enthusiasm of' another species, and far less 
worthy in its aim, succeeds : an admiration of the fine arts, a violent 
passion for the ohjecL': of taste, and for the refinements of luxury. 
This leads us to consider Greece in the light in which, after the loss 
of its liberty, it still continued to attract the admiration of other na- 
tioiis. 

SECTION XX. 
STATE OF THE ARTS IN GREECE. 

1. It is not among the Greeks that we are to look for the greatest 
improvements in the useful and necessLU-y arts of life. In agricul* 
ture, manufactures, commerce, they never were greatly distinguish- 
ed. But in those which are termed the fine arts, Greece surpassed 
all the contemporary nations. The monuments of those which yet 
remain are the models of imitation, and the confessed standiiid of 
excellence, in the judgment of the most polished nations of modern 
times. 

2. After the defeat of Xerxes the active spirit of the Athenians, 
which would have otherwise languished for want of an object, taking 
a new direction from luxury, displayed itself signally in all the works 
of taste in the fine arts. The administration of Pericles was the tera 
of luxury and splendour. The arts broke out at once with surpris- 
ing lustre ; and architecture, sculpture, and painting, were carrietf 

D2 6 



42 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

to the summit of perfection. This golden age of the arts in Greece 
endured for about a century, till alter the death of Alexander the 
great. 

3. The Greeks were the parents of that system of architecture 
which is universally allowed to be the most perfect. 

The Greeli architecture consisted of three distinct orders : tlie 
Doric, the Ionic, and Corinthian. ' 

The Doric has a masculine grandeur, and a superior air of strength 
to both the otliers. It is therefore best adapted to works of great 
magnitude, and of a sublime character. The character of sublimity 
is essentially connected with chasteness and simplicity. Of this or- 
der is the temple of Theseus at Athens, built ten years after the bat- 
tle of Marathon, and at this day almost entire. 

The Ionic order is light and elegant. The former has a masculine 
grandeur; the latter a feminine elegance. The Ionic is likewise 
simple : for simplicity is an essential requisite in true beauty. Of 
tJiis order were the temple of Apollo at Miletus, the temple of the 
Delphic oracle, and the temple of Diana at Ephesus. 

The Corinthian marks an age of luxury and magnificence, when 
pomp and splendour had become tiie predominant passion, but had not 
yet extinguished the taste for the sublime and beautiful. It attempts 
therefore a union of all these characters, but satislics not the chasten- 
ed judgment, and pleases only a corruj^ted taste. 

-> " First unadorned. 



" And nobly plain, the manly Doric rose ; 

♦' The Ionic then, with decent matron grace, 

" Her airy pillar heaved ; luxuriant last 

" The rich Corinthian spread her wanton MTeath." 

Tuomt>son''s Liberty^ Pari 2. 

4. The Tuscan and the Composite orders are of Itahan origin. 
The Etruscan architecture appears to have been nearly allied to the 
Grecian, but to have possessed an inferior degree of elegance. The 
Trajan column at Rome is of this order; less remarkble for the 
beauty of its proportions than for the admirable sculpture which 
decorates it. The Composite order is what its name implies ; it shows 
that the Greeks had in the three original orders exhausted all the 
principles of grandeur and beauty ; and that it was not possible to 
frame a fourth, except by combining the former. 

5. The Gothic architecture oifers no contradiction to these obser- 
vations. The effect which it produces cannot be altogether account- 
ed for from the rules of symmetry or harmony in the proportions be- 
twd^;n the several parts: but depends on a certain iciea of vastness, 
gloominess, and solemnity, which are powerful ingredients in the 
sublime. 

G. Sculpture Avas brought by the Greeks toj'as high perfection as 
architecture. The remains of Grecian sculptui'e are at this day the 
most perfect models of the art ; and tlic modern artists have no means 
of attaining to excellence so certain, as the study of those great mas- 
ter-pieces. 

7. The excellence of the Greeks in sculpture may perhaps be 
accounted for chiefly from their having the human figure often before 
Uieir eyes quite naked, and in all its various attitudes, both in the 
palccstra, and in the public games. The antique statues have there- 
fore a grandeiu' united with perfect simplicity, because the attitude is 



ANCIENT HISTOHY. 43 

not Ihe result of an artificial disposition of the figure, as in (he mod- 
em academies, but is nature unconstrained. IChus, in the Dying 
Gladiator, when we observe the relaxation of the muscles, and the 
'visible failure of strength and life, we cannot doubt that nature was 
the sculptors immediate model of imitation.* 

8. And this nature was in reality superior to what we now see in 
the ordinary race of men. Tlie constant practice of gymnastic ex- 
ercises gave a tincr contormation of body than what is now to be found 
in the vitiated pupils of modern efleminacy, the artificial children oi 
modern fashion. 

9. A secondary cause of the eminence of the Greeks in the arts of 
design, was their theology, which furnished an ample exercise for 
the genius of the sculptor and painter. 

10. We must speak with more diffidence of the ability of the 
Greeks in painting, than we do of their superiority in sculpture ; be- 
cause the existing specimens of the former are extremely rare, and 
the pieces which are preserved are probably not the most excellent. 
But in the w^ant of actual evidence we have every presumption that 
the Greeks had attained to equal perfection in the art of painting and 
in sculpture ; for if we lind the judgment given by ancient writers of 
their excellence in sculpture confirmed by the universal assent of the 
best critics among the moderns, we have every reason to presume an 
equal rectitude in the judgment which the same ancient writers have 
pronounced upon their paintings. If Pliny is right in his opinion of 
the merits of those statues which yet remain, the Venus of Praxiteles, 
and the Laocoon of Agesandci-,Polydorus, and Athenodorus, we have 
no reason to suppose his taste to be less iust when he celebrates ths 
merits, and criUcally characterizes the different mnnners of Zeuxis, 
Apelles, Parrhasius, Protogenes, and Timanthes, whose works have 
perished. 

11. The paintings found :.i Hezculaneum, Pompeii,, the Sepul- 
chrum Nasonianum at Konie, w^cre probably the work of Greek 
artists ; for the Romans -^vere never eminent in any of the arts de- 
pendent en design. These paintings exhibit great knowledge ol 
proportions, and ofHho chiaro-cscuro ; but betray an ignorance of 
the rules of perspective. 

12. The music of the ancients app.ears to have been very greatly 
inferior to that of the moderns.' 

13. The pecuUar genius of the Greeks in the fine arts extended its 
effects to the rovolutiorjs of their states, and influenced their fate as a 
nation. 



SECTION XXI. 

OF THE GF.EEK POETS, 

1. The Greeks were the first who reduced the athletic exercises 
to n system, and considered them as an object of general attention and 
importance. The FanathenKan, and afterwards the Olympic, the 
Pythian, Nemffian, and Isthmian games, were under the regulation 
of the laws. They contributed essentially to the improvement of the 
nation ; and, v/hile they cherished martial ardour, and promoted har- 

* Cresilas vulntralum dejicicntem ficit^ ex quo possil intelligi quantum 
7t*.<let animi: Plln. lib. 36. Cresilas lias represented a wounded man 
fainting, from which \yq may perceive how much life still remains. 



44 ANCIENT HISTOKr. 

diness and agility of body, they cultivated likewise urbanity and po. 

liteness. 

2. The games of Greece were not confined to gymnastic or athlet- 
ic exercises. They encouraged competitions in genius and learning. 
They were the resort of the poets, the historians, and the philosophers. 

3. In all nations, poetry is of greater antiquity than prose composi- 
tion. The earliest prose writers in Greece, Pherecydes of Scyros, 
and Cadmus of Miletus, were 350 years posterior to Homer. Any 
remains of the more ancient poets, as Linus, Orpheus, &ic., are ex- 
tremely suspicious. Homer is generally supposed to have flourished 
about 907 A. C. ; to have followed the occupation of i. wandering 
minstrel, and to have composed his poems in detached fragments, 
and separate ballads, and episodes. Pisistratus, about 540 A. C, em- 
ployed some learned men to collect and methodize these fragments; 
and to this we owe the complete poems of the Iliad and Odyssey. 
The distinguishing merits of Homer are, his profound knowledge of 
human nature, his faithful and minute description of ancient man- 
ners, his genius for the sublime and beautiful, and the harmony of 
his poetical numbers. His fidelity as a historian has been questioned • 
but the great outlines of his narrative are probably authentic. 

4. Hesiod was nearly contemporary with Homer: we should be 
Uttle sensible of his merits, if they were not seen through the medi- 
um of an immense antiquity. 1 he poem of the Works and Days 
contains some judicious precepts of agriculture. The Theogony is 
an obscure history of the origin of the gods, and the formation of the 
universe. 

5. About two centuries after Homer and Hesiod, flourished Archi- 
iochus, the inventor of Iambic verse ; Terpander, equally eminent 
as a poet and a musician; Sappho, of whose composition we have 
two exquisite odes; Alca^us and Simonides, of whom there are some 
tine fragments; and Pindar and Anacioon, nho have left enough to 
allow an accurate estimate of their merits. 

6. Pindar was esteemed by the ancients the chief of the lyric poets. 
He possesses unbounded fancy, and great subliijiity of imagery; but 
his digressions are so rapid and so frequent, that we cannot discover 
the chain of thought ; and his expression is allowed, even by Longinus, 
to be often obscure and unintelligible. 

7 Anacreon is a great contrast to 'Pindar. His fancy suggests only 
familiar and luxurious pictures. He has no comprehension of the 
sublime, but contents himself with the easy, the graceful, and the 
wanton. His morality is loose, and his sentiments little else than the 
effusions of a voluptuary. 

S. The collection termed Anthologia^ which consists chiefly of an- 
cient epigrams, contains many valuable specimens of the taste and 
poeti-.al fancy of the Greeks, and contributes materially to the illus- 
tration of their manners. The best of the modern epigrams may be 
traced to this source. 

9. The aera of the origin of dramatic composition among the Greeks 
is about 590 A. C. Thespis was contemporary with Solon. Within 
little more than a century, the Greek drama was carried to its higlv 
est perieclion, for ^Eschyius died 456 A. C. ^schylus wrote sixty- 
six tragedies ; for thirteen of which he gained the first prize of dra- 
matic poetry at the Olympic games. Like Shakspeare, his genius is 
sublime, and his imagination unbounded. He disdained regularity of 
plan, and all artificial restriction; but unfortunately he disdained 
Hkewise the restraints of decency and of good morals. 



ANCIENT HISTORY. 46 

10. Euripides and Sophocles flourished about fifty years after 
^chyliis. Euripides is most masterly in painting the passion of love, 
both in Its tcnderest emotions and in its most violent paroxysms : yet 
the characters of his women demonstrate that he had no great opinion 
of the virtues of the sex. Longinus does not rate high his talent for 
the sublime. But he possessed a much superior excellence : his verses, 
with great eloquence and harmony, breathe the most admirable mo- 
rality. There remain twenty tragedies of Euripides ; and of these, 
the Medea is deemed the best. 

11. Sophocles shared with Euripides the palm of dramatic poetry ; 
and is judged to have surpassed him in the grand and the sublime. 01 
120 tragedies which he composed, only seven remain. They display 
great knowledge of the human heart, and a general chastity and 
sinjplicity of expression, which gave the greater force to the occasional 
strokes of the sublime. The Oedipus of Sophocles is esteemed the 
most perfect production of the Greek stage. 

12. The Greek comedy is divided into the ancient, the middle, aad 
the new. The tirst was a licentious satire and mimicry of real per- 
sonages, exhibited by name upon tlie stage. The laws repressed this 
extreme license, and gave birti to the middle comedy, which continued 
the satirical delineation of real persons, but under ticlitious names 
The last improvement consisted in banishing all personal satire, and 
confining comedy to a delineation of manners. This was the new 
comedy. Of the first species, the ancient, we have no remains. The 
dramas of Aristophanes are an example of the second or middle 
comedy. The grossness of his raillery, and the malevolence which 
frequently inspired it, are a reproach to the morals of that people 
which could tolerate it. Yet his works have their value, as throwing 
light upon ancient manners. 

13. Of the new comedy, Menander was the bright example ; pos- 
sessing a vein of the most delicate wit, with the utmost purity ot 
moral sentiment. Unfortunately we have nothing of him remainbg 
but a few fi-agments preserved by Athenseus. We see a great deal ol 
his merits, however, in his copyist and translator, Terence. 

14. The actors, both in the Greek and Roman theatres, wore masks, 
of which the features were strongly painted, and the mouth so con- 
structed as to increase the power of the voice. It is probable that the 
tragedy and comedy of the Greeks and Romans were set fo music, 
and sung, like the recitative in the ItaUan opera. Sometimes one 
person was employed to recite or sing the part, and another to per- 
lorm the corresponding actioH or gesticulation. 

1 5. The mimes were burlesque parodies on the serious tragedy 
and comedy. The pantomimes consisted solely of gesticidation, and 
were caixied to great perfection. 

SECTION XXII. 
OF THE GREEK HISTORIANS. 

1. The most eminent of the Greek historians were contempora- 
ries. Herodotus died 413 A. C. ; Thucydides 391 A. C. ; and Xeno- 
phon was about twenty years younger than Thucydides, Herodotus 
writes the ioint history of the Greeks and Persians, from the time oi 
Cyrus, to the battles of Plataia and Mycale. He treats incidentally 
likewise of the Egyptians, Assyrians, Medes, and Lydians. His vera- 
eity is to be depended oa in all matters that fell under his own obser- 



46 AJNCIENT HISTORY. 

valion; but he admits too easily the reports of others, jjid is m gen- 
eral fond of the marvellous. His style is pure, and he has a copious 
elocution. 

3. Thucydides, himself an able general, has written, with great abiU 
ity, the history of the first twenty-one years of the Peloponnesian 
war; introducing it with a short narrative of the preceding periods 
of the history of Greece. He is justly esteemed for his fidelity and 
candour. His style is a contrast to the full and flowing period of 
Herodotus, possessing a sententious brevity, which is at once lively 
and energetic. The history of the remaining six years of the war 
of Peloponnesus was written by Theopompus and Xenophon. 

3. Xenophon commanded the Greek army in the service of Cyrus 
the younger, in his culpable enterprise against his brother Artaxerx- 
es. (See Sect. XIII, ^ 6.) After the failure of this enterprise, Xeno- 
phon directed that astonishing retreat from Babylon to the Euxine, 
of which he has given a splendid and faithful narrative. He wrote 
likewise the Cyropedia, or the history of the elder Cyrus, which 
is belived to be rather an imaginary delineation of an accomplished 
prince than a real narration. He continued the history of Thucyd- 
jdes, and has left two excellent political tracts on the constitutions of 
Lacedaemon and Athens. His style is simple and energetic ; but the 
brevity of his sentences sometimes obscures his meaning. 

4. Greece, in its decline, produced some historians of great em 
inence. Polybius, a native of Megalopolis, wrote forty books of tbe 
Roman and Greek history during his own age ; that is, from the be- 
ginning of the second Punic war to the reduction of Macedonia into 
a Roman province ; but of this great work, only the first five books 
are entire, with an epitome of the following twelve. He merits less 
the praise of eloquence than of authentic information, and most judi- 
cious reflection. 

5. Diodorus Siculus flourished in the time of Augustus, and compos- 
ed, in forty books, a general history of the world, under the title of 
Bibliotheca Historica. No more remain than fifteen books ; of which 
the first five treat of the fabulous periods, and the history of the Egyp- 
tians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, &,c. prior to the Trojan war. The 
next five are wanting. The remainder brings down the history from 
the expedition of Xerxes into Greece till after the death of Alexander 
the great. He is taxed with chronological inaccuracy in the earlier 
parts of his work ; but the authenticity and correctness of the later 
periods are unimpeached. 

6. Dionvsius of Halicarnassus, eminent both as a historian and rhet- 
orician, flourished in the age of Augustus. His Roman Antiquities 
contain much valuable information, though his work is too much 
tinctured with the spirit of systematizing. 

7. Plutarch, a native of Cheronea, in Boeotia, flourished in the 
reign of Nero. His Lives of Illustrious Men is one of the most val- 
uable of the literary works of the ancients; introducing us to an 
acquaintance with the private character and manners of those eminent 
persons whose public achievements are recorded by professed his- 
torians. His morality is excellent ; and his style, though unpolished, 
Is clear and energetic. 

8 Arrian ^vrote, in the reign of Adrian, seven books of the wars of 
Alexander, with great judgment and fidelity; his narrative being 
composed on the authority of Aristobulus and Ptolemy, two of 
Alexander's principal oflicers. His style is unadorned, but chaate^ 
perspicuous, and manly. 



ANCIENT HISTORY. 47 



SECTION XXIII. 

OF THE GREEK PHILOSOPHERS, 

1. After the time of Homer and Hesiod, the increasing relish for 
poetical composition gave rise to a set of men termed rhapsodists, 
whose employment was to recite at the games and festivals the com- 
positions of the older poets, and to comment on their merits and ex- 
plain their doctrines. Some of these, founding schools of instruction, 
were digniiied by their pupils with the epithet of Sophists, or teach- 
ers of wisdom. 

2. The most ancient school of philosophy was that founded by 
iThales, 640 A. C, and termed the ionic. Thales is celebrated for 

his knowledge of geometry and astronomy. His metaphysical doc- 
trines are imperfectly known. He taught the belief of a iirst cause, 
and an over-ruling providence ; but supposed the Divinity to animate 
the universe, as the soul does the body. The moral doctrines of the 
Ionic school ^vere pure and rational. The most eminent o£ the dis- 
ciples of Thales were Anaximander and Anaxagoras. 

.3. Soon after the Ionic, arose the Italian sect, founded by Pythag- 
oras, who was born about 586 A. C. He is supposed to have derived 
much of his knowledge from Egypt ; and he had, like the Egyptian 
priests, a' public doctrine for the people, and a private for his disci- 
ples ; the former a good system of morals, the latter probably unin- 
telligible mystery. His notions of the Divinity Avere akin to those ol 
Thales ; but he believed in the eternity of the universe, and its co- 
existence with the Deity. He taught the transmigration of the soul 
through diflerent bodies. His disciples lived in common ; abstained 
rigorously from the liesh of animals ; and held music in high estima- 
tion, as a corrective of the passions. Pythagoras believed the earth 
to be a sphere, the planets to be inhabited, and the tixed stars to be 
the suns and centres of other systems. His most eminent followers 
were Empedocles, Epicharmus, Ocellus Lucanus, Timajus, Archytas. 

4. The Eleatic sect was founded by Xenophanes, about 500 A. C. 
Its chief supporters were Parmenides, Zeno, and Leucippus, citizens 
of Elea. The metaphysical notions of this sect were utterly unintel- 
ligible. They maintained that things had neither beginning, end, 
nor any change ; and that all the changes we perceive are in our 
own senses. Yet Leucippus taught the doctrine of atoms, whence 
he supposed all material substances to be formed. Of this sect were 
Democritus and Herachtus. 

5. The Socralic school arose from the Ionic. Socrates died 401 
A. C, the wisest, the most virtuous ot the Greeks. He exploded the 
futile logic of the Sophists, which consisted of a set of general argu- 
ments, applicable to all manner of questions, and by which they could, 
with an appearance of plausibiUty, maintain either side of any prop- 
osition. Socrates always brought his antagonist to pL'.i^ticulars ; be- 
ginning with a simple and undeniable position, which bemg granted, 
another followed equally undeniable, till the disputant was conduct- 
ed step by step, by his own concessions, to that side of the question 
on which lay the trutli. His rivals lost all credit as philosophers, but 
had influence to procure the destruction of the man who had expos- 
ed them. The doctrines of Socrates are to be learned from Plato 
and Xenophon. Ke taught the belief of a first cause, whose benefi- 



48 ANQENT HISTORY. 

cence is equal to his power, the Creator and Ruler of* the universe 
He inculcated the moral agency of man, the immortality of the soul, 
and a future state of reward and punishment. He exploded the 
polytheistic superstitions of his country, and thence became tlie 
victim of an accusation of impiety. (See Section XIIJ, § 5.) 

6. The morality of Socrates was successfully cultivated by the 
Cyrenaic sect, but was pushed to extravagance by the Cynics. Vir- 
tue, in their opinion, consisted in renouncing all the conveniences of 
life. They clothed themselves in rags, slept and ate in the streets, 
or wandered ahout the country with a stick and a knapsack. They 
condemned all knowledge as useless. They associated impudence 
with ignorance, and indulged themselves in scurrility and invective 
without restraint. 

7. 'I'he Megarian sect was the happy inventor of logical syllogism, 
or the art of quibbling. 

8. Plato was the founder of the Academic sect:' a philosopher, 
whose doctrines have had a more extensive empire over the minds 
of mankind, than those of any other among the ancients. This is ia 
part owing to their intrinsic merit, and in part to the eloquence with 
which they have been propounded. Plato had the most sublime 
ideas of the Divinity and his attributes. Pie taught that the human 
soul was a portion of the Divinity, and that this alliance with the 
eternal mind might be improved into actual intercourse with the 
Supreme Being, by abstracting the soul from all the corruptions 
which it derives from the body : a doctrine highly flattering to the 
pride of man, and generating that mystical enthusiasm which hasthp 
most powerful empire over a warm imagination, 

0. The Platonic philosophy found its chief opponents in four re 
markable sects, the Peripatetic, the Sceptic, the Stoic, and the Epi- 
curean. 

10. 'Aristotle, the founder of the Peripatetic sect, was the tutor of 
Alexander the great, and established his school in the Lyceum at 
Athens: a philosopher whose tenets have found more zealoojs parti- 
zans and more rancorous opponents, than, those of any other. His 
Metaphysics, from the sententious bi'ovity of his expression, are ex- 
tremely obscure, and have given rise to numberless commentaries. 
The best analysis of his doctrines is given by Dr. Reid, in Lord 
Karnes's Sketches of the History of Man. His physical works are 
the result of great observation and acquaintance with nature; and his 
critical writings, as his Poetics and Art of Rhetoric, display both taste 
and judgment. The peculiar passion of Aristotle was that of classi- 
fying, arranging, and combining the objects of his knoAvIedge, so as to 
reduce all to a few principles : a very dangerous propensity in phi- 
iosophv, and repressive of improvement in science. 

1 1. The Sceptical sect wasiounded by Pyrrho. They formed no 
systcKis of their own, but endeavoured to weaken the Ibundations of 
those of all others. They inculcated universal doubt, as the only true 
wisdom. There Avas, in their opinion, no essential difference be- 
tween vice and virtue, further than as human compact had discrim- 
inated them. Tranquillity of mind they supposed to be the state of 
the greatest happiness, and this was to be attained by absolute indif- 
ference to all dogmas or opinions. 

1S>. The Stoics, proposing to themselves the same end, tranquillity 
of mind, took a nobler path to arrive at it. They endeavoured to 
raise themselves above all the passions and feelings of humanity. 
They believed all nature, and God himself, the soul of the umTei"se, 



ANCIENT HISTORY. 49 

to be regulated by fixed and immutable la^vs. The human soul be- 
ing a portion of the Divinity, man cannot complain of being actuated 
by that necessity which actuates the Divinity himself. His pains and 
his pleasures are determined by the same laws which determme his 
existence. Virtue consists in accommodating the disposition of the 
mind to the immutable laws of nature ; vice in opposing those laws : 
vice therefore is folly, and virtue the only true wisdom. A beautiful 
picture of the Stoical philosophy is found in the Meditations of M. 
Aurelius Antoninus. (See Rladan's Translation.) 

13. Epicurus taught that man's supremr? happiness consisted in 
pleasure. He limited the term, so as to make it mean only the prac- 
tice of virtue. But if pleasure is allowed to be the object, every 
man will draw it from those sources which he finds can best supply 
it. It might have been the pleasure of Epicurus to be chaste and 
temperate. We are told that it was so. But others find their pleas- 
ure in intemperance and luxury, and such was the taste of his princi- 
pal followers. Epicurus held that the Deity was indiflerent to all the 
actions of man. His followers therefore had no other counsellor 
than their own conscience, and no other guide than the instinctive 
desire of their own happiness. 

14. The Greek philosophy, on the v.'hole, affords little more than 
a picture of the imbecility and caprice of the human mind. Its 
teachers, instead of experiment and observation, satisfied themselves 
ivith constructing theories ; and these wanting fact for their basis, 
have only served to perplex the understanding, and retard equally 
the advancement of sound morality and the progress of useful knowl- 
edge. 

SECTION XXIV. 
THE HISTORY OF ROxME. 

1. In the delineation of ancient history, Rome, after the conquest 
of Greece, becomes the leading object of attention. The history of 
this empire, in its progress to universal dominion, and afterwards in its 
decline and fall, involves a collateral account of all the other na- 
tions of antiquity, which in those periods are deserving of our con- 
sideration. 

2. Though we cannot determine the aera when Italy was first pfMj- 
pled, yet we have every reason to believe that it was inhabited by 
a refined and cultivated nation, many ages bpfore the Roman name 
was known. These were the Etruscans, of whom there exist at 
this day monuments in the fine arts, which prove them to have been 
a splendid, luxurious, and highly polished people. — Their alphabet, 
resembling the Phoenician, disposes us to believe them of eastern 
origin. The Roman historians mention them as a powerful and opu- 
lent nation long before the origin of Rome ; and Dionysius of Hali- 
carnassus deduces most of the religious rites of tne Rortians from 
Etruria. 

3. The rest of Italy was divided among a number of independent 
tribes or nation?, comparatively in a rude and uncultivated state ; 
Umbrians, Ligurians, Sabines, Veientes, Latins, /Equi, Volsci, &c. 
Latium, a territory of fifty miles in length and sixteen in breadth, 
contained forty-seven independent cities or states. 

4. The origin of the city and state of Rome is involved in great 
uncertainty. Dionysius supposes two cities of that name to nave 



&0 ANCiKNT ai5T()Uy, 

existed, and to have perished before the foundation of the city built 
by Romulus. The vulgar account of the latter is, that ft waa 
founded 752 A. C. by a troop of shepherds or banditti, who peo- 
pled their new city by carrying off the wives and daughters of tneir 
neighbours, the Sabines. 

5. Tiie great outUnes of the first constitution of the Roman govern- 
ment, though generally attributed to the political abilities of Romu- 
lus, seem to have a natural foundation in the usages of barbarous 
nations. Other institutions bear the traces of pohtical skill and posi- 
tive enactment. 

6. Romulus is said to have divided his people into three tribe?, and 
each tribe into ten curke. The lands he distributed into three por- 
tions; one for the support of the government, another for the main- 
tenance of religion, and the third for the use of the Roman citizens, 
which he divided into equal portions of two acres to each citizen. 
He instituted a senate of 100 members (afterv,'an!s increased to 200,) 
who deliberated on and prepared all public measures for the assembly 
of the people, in whom was veited the right of determination. The 
partrician families were the descendants of those centum patres {hun- 
dred Jathcrs). 

7. The king had the nomination of the senators, the privilege of 
assembling the people, and a right of appeal in all questions of im- 
portance. He had the command of the army, and the oflice oi pmv- 
tifex maxhnus {high priest). He had, as a guard, twelve iictors, and 
a troop of horsemen named celercs, or equitcs^ afterwards the distinct 
order of Roman knights. These regulations are of positive institu- 
tion : others arose naturally from the state of society. 

8. The putrid potcstas {patcrncd autJwniy) is of the latter nature, be- 
ing common to all barbarous tribes. The limitation of all arts to the 

ji-glaves arose from the constant employment of the citizens in warfare 
'■^ or in agriculture. 

9. The connexion of patron and client was an admirable institu' 
tion, which at once united the citizens, and maintained a useful sub- 
ordination. 

10. The Sabines were the most formidable enemy of the early 
Komans ; and a wise policy united for a while the two nations into 
one state. After the death of Romulus, who reigned thirty-seven 
years, Numa, a Sabine, was elected king. Bis disposition was pious 
and pacific, and he endeavoured to give his people the same charac- 
ter. He pretended to divine inspii-ation, to give the greater authori- 
ty to his laws, which in themselves were excellent. He multiplied 
the national gods, built temples, and instituted different classes of 
pi'iests, Jlamines, ••••alii, &c., and a variety of religious ceremonies. 
The tlamines ofhciated each in the service of a particular deity ; the 
salii guarded the sacred bucklers ; the vestals cherished the sacred 
fire; the augurs and aruspices divined future events from the flight 
of birds, and the entrails of victims. The temple of Janus was open 
in war, and shut during peace. Numa reformed the calendar, regu- 
lating the year at twelve lunar months, and 'distinguished the days 
for civil occupation {fasti) from those dedicated to religious rest 
(nefasti). Agriculture was la^vful on the latter, as a duty of religion. 
N uma reigned forty-three years. 

11. Tuitus Hostiiius, the third king of Rome, of warlike disposi- 
Uon, subdued the Albans, Fidcnates, and other neighbouring states. 
The Sabines, now disunited from the Romans, v/ere among the most 
povperful of their enemies. TuUus reigned thirty three yea«. 



ANCIENT HISTOllY. 5] 

12. Aiicus Martius, tha grandson of Numa, was elected king on 
the death ot'TuUus. He inherited the piety and virtues of his grand- 
father, and joined to these the talents ol" a warrior. Me increased 
tiie population of Rome, by naturalizing some of the conquered 
states; enlarged and forliued the city, ^nd built the port of Ostia at 
tlie mouth of the Tiber. He reigned gloriously twenty-four years. 

13. Tarquinius Priscus, a citizen of Corinth, popular trom his 
wealth and liberality, was elected to the vacant tlirone. He enlarg- 
ed the senate by 100 new members from the plebeian lamilies, /ja^jx'f 
minorum gentium [the fathers of the less families). This body consisted 
now of 30u, at which numoer it remained for some centuries. .Tar- 
quin was victorious in liis wars, and adornc-d and improved the cily 
with works of utility and magnificence. Such were the circus or 
hippodrome, the walls of hewn stone ; the capitol ; the cloacae, those 
immense common sewers, which lead to the belief that the new 
Ixome had been built on the ruins of an ancient city of greater mag- 
nitude. Tarquinius was assassinated in the thirty-eighth year of his 
reign, 

14. Servius Tullius, who had married the daughter of Tarquinius, 
secured, by his own address and the intrigues of his mother-in-law, 
his election to the vacant throne. He. courted popularity by acts of 
munificence ; discharging the debts of the poor, dividing among the 
citizens his patrimonial lands, improving the city with useful edifices, 
and extending its boundaries. The new arrangement which he in- 
troduced in the division of tha Roman citizens is a proof of much po- 
litical ability, and merits attention, as on it depended many of tlip. 
revolutions of the republic. 

15. From the time' that the Romans had admitted the Albans and 
Sabines to the rights of citizens, the urban and rustic tribes were 
composed of those threa nations. Each tribe being divided into ten 
ciirue, and every curia liaving an equal vote in the comitia., as each 
individual had in his tribe, all questions were decided by the majority 
of suffrages. There was no pre-eminence between the curioi^ and 
the order in Avhich they gave their votes was determined by lot. 
This was a reasonable constitution, so long as the Ibrtunes of the 
citizens were nearly on a par ; but, vvhen riches came to be une- 
qually divided, it was obvious that much inconvenience must have 
arisen from this equal partition of power, as the rich could easily, by 
bribery, command the suflrages of the poor. Besides, all the taxes 
had hitherto been levied by the head, without any regard to the in- 
equality of fortunes. These obvious defect;^ furnished to Servius a 
just pretext for an entire change of system. His plan was, to remove 
the poorer citizens from all share of the government, while the 
burdens attending its support should fall solely on the rich. 

16. All the citizens were required, under a heavy penalty, to de- 
clare upon oath their names, dwellings, number of their children, 
and amount of their fortune. After this numeration or census., Ser- 
vius divided the whole citizens, without distinction, into tour tribes, 
named, flrom the quarters where they dv/elt, the Palatine., Suburran, 
Collatine, and Esquilhie. Beside this local division, Servius distribut- 
fd the whole people into six classes, and each class into several 
centuries or portions of citizens so called, not as actually consisting 
of a hundred, but as being obliged to furnish and maintain 100 men 
in time of war. In the tirst class, which consisted of the richest citi- 
zens, or those who were worth at least 100 minm (about 300Z. ster- 
ling), there were no less than ninety-eight centuries. In the seconvJ 



55 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

class (those worth 75 mincK) there were twenty-two centuries. In 
the third (those worth 50 miniR) were t^venty centuries. In the 
fourth (those worth 25 mince) twenty-two centuries. In the fifth 
(those worth 12 niinui) thirty centuries. The sixth, the most nu- 
merous of the whole, comprehending all the poorer citizens, furnish- 
ed only one century. Thus the whole Roman people were divided 
into 193 centuries, or portions of citizens, so called, as furnishing 
each a hundred soldiers. The sixth class was declared exempt from 
taxes. The other classes, according to the number of centuries of 
which they consisted, were rated for the public burdens at so much 
for each century. 

17. The poor had no reason to complain of this arrangement; but 
something ^vas wanting to compensate the rich for the burdens to 
which they were subjected. For this purpose Servius enacted, that 
henceforth the comitia should give their votes by centuries ; the first 
class, consisting of ninety-eight centuries, always voting first. Thus, 
though the whole people were called to the comitia^ and all seemed 
to have an equal suffrage, yet in reality the richer classes determin- 
ed everj'^ qiiestion, the suflrage of the poor being merely nominal ; 
for as the %vhole people formed 193centuries, and the first and second 
classes contained 120 of these, if they were unanimous, which gen- 
erally happened in questions »f importance, a maiority was secured. 
Thus, in the cornitin centuriata {assemblies in is:lnc]i the people voted by 
centuries)^ in which the chief magistrates were elected, peace and 
war decreed, and all other important business discussed, the richer 
classes of the citizens had the sole authority, the votes of the poor 
being of no avail. And such was the ingenuity of this policy, that all 
were pleased with it : the rich paid their taxes with cheerlulness, as 
the price of theii^ower; and the poor gladly exchanged authority 
for immunities. The census, performed every five years, was closed 
by a liiMriuii^ or expiatory sacrifice ; and hence that period of time 
was called a lustrum. 

18. Servius was assassinated, after a reign of forty-four years, by 
his infamous daughter Tullia, married to Tarquinius, the grandson 
of Priscus, who thus paved the way for his own elevation to the 
throne. The government of Tarquin, surnamed the proud, was sys- 
tematically tyrannical. He ingratiated himself \vith the lower orders, 
to abase by their means the power of the higher; but, insolent, ra- 
pacious, and cruel, he finally disgusted all ranks of his subjects. A 
rape committed by his son Sextus on Lucretia, the wife of CoUatinus, 
who, unable to survive her dishonour, stabbed herself in presence of 
her husband and kindred, roused their vengeance, and procured, by 
their influence with their countrymen, the expulsion of the tyrant, 
and the utter abolition of the regal dignity at Rome, 509 A. C. 

Rejlections on the Government and State of Rome during the period of 
the kings. 

19. The whole structure of the constitution of the Romans under 
the monarchy has been by most authors erroneously attributed ex- 
clusively to the abilities of Romulus, a youth of eighteen, the leader 
of a troop of shepherds or banditti. This chimerical idea we owe to 
Dionysius of Halicarnassus. The truth is, the Roman government, 
like almost every other, was the gradual result of circumstances ; 
the fruit of time, and of political emergency. 

20. The constitution of the Roman senate has occasioned consider* 



ANCIENT HISTORY. 63 

abie research, and is not free from obscurity. It is probable that the 
kings had the sole right of naming the senators, that the consuls suc- 
ceeded them in this right, and aftenvards, when these magistrates 
found too much occupation from the frequent wars in which the state 
was engaged, that privilege devolved on the censors. The senators 
were at tirst always chosen from the body of the patricians, but after- 
wards the plebeians acquired an equal title to that dignity. In tlie 
early periods of the republic the people could not be assembled but 
by the senate's authority ; nor were the plebiscita {decrees of the peo- 
ple) of any weight till confirmed by their decree. Hence the early 
constitution of the republic was rather aristocratical than demccrat- 
ical. Fiom this extensive power of the senate the first diminution 
was made by the creation of the tribunes of the people ; and other 
retrenchments successively took place, till the people acquired at 
length the predominant power in the state. Yet the senate, even 
after every usurpation on their authority, continued to have, in many 
points, a supremacy. They regulated all matters regarding religion; 
had the custody of the public treasure ; superintended the conduct of 
all magistrates ; gave audience to ambassadors ; decided on the fate of 
vanquished nations; disposed of the governments of the provinces; 
and took cognizance, by appeal, in all crimes against the state. In 
great emergencies tney appointed a dictator, with absolute au-thority. 

21. At the period of'^the abolition of the regal government the ter- 
ritory of the Romans was extremely limited. The only use which 
they made of their victories was to naturalize the inhabitants of 
some of the conquered states, and so increase their population. Thus, 
their strength being always superior to their enterprise, they laid a 
solid foundation for the future extension of their empire. 

22. In the accounts given by historians of the strength of the ar- 
mies, both of the Romans in those early times, and of the neighbour- 
ing states, their enemies, we have every reason to believe uiere is 
much exaggeration. The territories from which those armies were 
furnished were incapable of supplying them. 

23. In the continual wars in which the republic was engaged the 
Romans were most commonly the aggressoi-s. The causes of this 
seem to have been the ambition of tiie consuls to distinguish their 
short administration by some splendid enterprise, and the wish of the 
senate to give the people occupation, to prevent intestine disquiets. 

24. The regal government subsisted 244 years, and in that time 
only seven kings reigned, several of whom died a violent death. 
These circumstances throw doubt on th^ authenticity of this period 
of the Roman history. It is allowed that there were no historians for 
the five first centuries after the building of Rome. The first is 
Fabius Pictor, who lived during the second Punic war. Livy says 
(hat almost all the ancient records were destroyed when Rome was 
ttiken by the Gauls. 



SECTION XXV. 

ROME UNDER THE CONSULS. 

1. The regal government being abolished, it was agreed to commit 

the supreme authority to two magistrates, who should be annually 

elected by the people from the patrician order. To these they gave 

the names of consuks ; " a modest title, (says Vertot), v/hich gave to 

E2 



M ANCIENT HISTORY. 

understand that they were rather the counsellors of the republic than 
its sovereigns; and that the only point -which they ought to have in 
view was its preservation and glory." But, in fact, their authority 
diifered scarcely in any thing from that of the kings. They had 
the supreme administration of justice, the disposal of the public 
money, the power of convoking the senate and assembling the peo- 
ple, raising armies, naming all the officers, and the right of making 
peace and v.ar. The only difference %vas, that their autliority was 
limited to a year. 

2. The first consuls -were Brutus and Collatinus (the husband of 
Lucretia). Tarquin was at this time in Etruria, where he got two of 
the most powerful cities, Vcii and Tavquinii, to espouse his cause. 
He had likewise his partisans at Rome, and a plot was formed to 
open the gates to receive him. It was detected, and Brutus had 
the mortification to find his two sons in the number of the conspira- 
tors. He condemned them to be beheaded in his presence. Exuit 
pairein iit consulein agerct ; orhusquc vivcre^ quam puhlicce. vindicim deesse 
malidt. Val. Max. Fie ceased t) he a father^ that he migf^t execute the 
duties erf a consul; and chose to live childless rather than to neglect the 
public punishment of a crime. 

3. The consul V^alerius, successful in an engagement with the ex- 
iled Tarquin, was the first Roman who enjoyed the splendid reward 
of a triumph. Arrogant from his recent honoiKS, his popularity be- 
gan to decline ; and, in a view of recovering it, he proposed the' law, 
termed from him the V^alerian, which " permitted any citizen w^ho 
had been condcmi^.ed to death by a magistrate, or even to banish- 
ment or scourging, to appeal to the people, and required their con- 
fccnt previously to the execution of the sentence." This law gave 
the tirst blow to the aristocracy in the constitution of the Roman re- 
public^ 

4. For thirteen years after the expulsion of Tarquin, the Romans 
were involved in continual wars on his account. Of these the most 
remarkable was the war with the Etrurians, under Porsena ; a war 
fertile in exploits of romantic heroism. 

5. Soon after this period began those domestic disorders, which 
continued long to embroil the republic. Great complaints had arisen 
among the poorer classes of the citizens, both on account of tiie ine- 
quality of property, from the partial distribution of the conquered 
lands, which the higher ranks generally contrived to engross to them- 
selves, and from the harsh policy by which it was in the power of 
creditors to reduce to a state of slavery their insolvent debtors. As 
there v*'as no legal restrain^on usury, the poor, when once reduced 
to the necessity of contracting debts, were left entirely at the mercy 
of their creditors. These grievances, felt in common by a large pro- 
portion of the citizens, excited much discontent, which, from com- 
plaints long disregarded, grew at length JBto a spirit of determined 
resistance. The wars required new levies, and the plebeians posi- 
tively refused to enrol their names, unless the senate should put an 
end to their oppression, by decreeing at once an abolition of all the 
debts due by tne poor to the rich. The emergency was critical, as 
the enem.y was at the gates of Rome. The consuls found their au- 
thority ot no avail ; for the Valerian law had given any citizen con- 
demned by them a right of appeal to the people. An extraordinaiy 
measure was necessary, and a dictator was created for the first time ; 
a magistrate ^vho, for the period of six montlis, was invested with 
absolute and unlimited authority. Lartius, nominated to this high 



ANCIENT HISTORY. 65 

office, ^rmed tlie twenty-four lictqrs with axe?, summoned the whole 
people to the comitia, and calling over the names, under the penalty 
of death to any citizen who should dare to murmur, enrolled all sucn 
as he judged most fit for the service of their country. This expedi- 
ent became henceforward a frequent and certain resource in allsea- 
sons of public danger. 

6. The death of Tarquin removed one check against the tyranny 
of the higher over the lower orders ; lor the latter had hitherto kept 
alive a salutary apprehension, that, in case of extreme oppression, 
they would be under the necessity of calling back their kbg. Wheo 
this fear was at an end, the domineering spirit of the patricians, ex- 
ceeduig every bound both of gocxl poficy and humanity, drove tlie 
people at length to deeds of mutiny and re.be!lion. An alarm fron 
the enemy gave full weight to their pov/er, and made the chief magia 
trates of the state solemnly engage their honour to procure a re* 
dress of their grievtoces, as soon as the public danger was at an end* 
The promise, either from a failure of will or of power, was not fuU 
filled, and this violation of faith drove the people at length to ex • 
tremities. Bound by their military oath not to desert their standards, 
they carried them along with them ; and the whole army, in military 
array, withdrew from Rome, and deliberately encamped on theMons 
Sacer, at three miles distance from the city ; and here they were soon 

{'oined by the greater part of the people. This resolute procedure 
lad its desired effect. The senate deputed ten persons, the most re- 
spectable of their order, with plenary powers ; and these, seeing no 
medium of- compromise, granted to the people all their demands. 
The debts were solemnly abolished ; and, for the security of their 
privileges in future, they were allowed the right of choosing magis- 
trates of their own order, ivho should have the power of opposing 
uith eiiiict every mccisure which they should judge pi'ejudicial to 
their interests. These were the tribunes oi the people, chosen annu- 
ally ; at first five in number, and afterwards increase^ 'o ten. With- 
out guards or tribunal, and having no seat in f^c senate-house, they 
had yet the power, by a single -ueto, to p'-!.3pend or annul the decrees 
of the senate and the senjences of t-'ie consuls. Their persons were 
declared sacred, but their authority was confined to the limits of a 
mile from the city. The tribunes demanded and obtained two magis- 
trates to assist them, who were termed sediles, from the charge com- 
mitted to them of the bwiifhngs of the city. 

7. From this sera (260 years from the foundation of Rome) we date 
the commencement of the popular constitution^ of the Roman repub- 
lic: a change operated by the unwise policy of the patricians them- 
selves, who, by yielding to just complain te, and humanely redressing 
flagrant abuses, might have' easily anticipated every ground of dis» 
satisfaction. The first wish of the people was net power, but relief 
from tyranny and oppression ; and if this hud been readily granted 
them by abolishing the debte. or at least by repressing enormoua 
usury, and putting an end to tne inhuman right of corporal punish- 
ment and the bondage of debtors, the people would have cheerfully 
returned to order and submission, and the Roman constitution would 
have long remained aristocratical, as we have seen it was at the com- 
mencement of the consular government. But the plebeians having 
now obtained magistrates of their own order with those high powers, 
v;ii shall see it become the object of those magistrates to increase 
their authority by continual demands and bold encroachments. The 
people, regarding them as the champions of their rights, are delight- 



66 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

ed to find themselves gradually approaching to a level with the 
higher order; and, no longer bounding their desires to ease and se- 
curitv, are soon equally influenced by ambition as their superiors. 
VVhife this people, borne down by injustice, seek no more than the 
redress of real grievances, we sympathize with their feelings, and 
applaud their spirited exertions. But when they had at length com- 
passed the end which they wished, obtained ease and security, nay, 
power which they had neither sought nor expected ; when we see 
them, after this, increasing in their demands, assuming that arrogance 
which they justly blamed in their superiors, goaded on by the am- 
biteon of their leaders to tyrannize in their turn; we view with 
proper discrimination the love of liberty and its extreme licentious- 
ness ; and treat with just detestation the authors of those pemicious 
measures, which embroiled the state in eniless faction, and paved the 
way for the total loss of that liberty, of which this deluded people 
knew nO't the value when they actually possessed it. 



SECTION XXVI. 

THE LAW OF VOLERO. 

1. Tire disorders of the commonwealth, appeased by the creation 
of the tribunes, were but for a time suspended. It was necessary 
that the popular magistrates should make an experiment of their 
powers. In an assembly of the people one of the consuls, interrupt- 
ed by a tribune, rashly said, that if the tribunes had called that assem 
bly,he would not have interrupted them. This was a concession on 
the part of the consuls, that the tribunes had the pov/er of assem- 
bling the comitia, which, from tnat moment, they assumed as their 
acknowledged right. It was a consequence of this right, that the 
affairs of the coniiA.<inwealth should be agitated in those meetings, 
equally as in the assemblies held in virtue of a consular sunamons, or 
senatorial decree, and thus there were, in a manner, two distinct 
legislative powers established in the repubUc. 

2. The trial of Coriolanus for inconsiderately proposing the aboli- 
tion of the tribunate, an ofience interprpted to be treason against the 
state, threw an additional weight mto the scale of the people. The 
proposal of an agrarian law, for the division ot the lands acquired by 
recent conquests, resumed at interva-ls, though never canied into 
execution, inflamed the passions of the rival orders. 

3. Publius Volero, formerly a centurion, and a man distinguished 
for his military services, had, in the new levies, been ranked as a 
common soldier. Complaining of this unmerited degrrdation, he re- 
fused his services in that capacity ; and the consuls having con- 
demned him to corporal punishment, he appended from their sen- 
tence to the people. The contest lasted till the annual term of elec- 
tions, when Voiero himself was chosen a tribune of the people. He 
had an ample revenge, by procuring the enactment of a most impor- 
tant law. The comitia by centuries and by curiae could be called 
only in virtue of a decree of the senate, after consulting the auspices; 
and in those comitia the tribunes had hitherto been elected, and the 
most important public affairs discussed. It was decreed by the law 
of Volero, that the election of the tribunes should be made, and the 
cliief public business henceforward discussed, in the comitia held hy 
tribes, which were unfettered by any of those restraints. From this 



ANCIENT HISTORY. 67 

period the supreme authority in the Roman republic may be consid- 
ered as having passed rompletely from the higher order into the 
hands of the people. The Roman constitution was now plainly a 
democracy, 471 A. C. 

SECTION XXVIl. 

THE DECEMVIRATE. 

1. The Romans had, till this period, no body of civil laws. — Under 
the regal government the kings alone administered justice; the 
consuls succeeded tliem in this high prerogative, and thus possessed 
without control the absolute command of the fortunes and civil rights 
of all the citizens. To remedy this great defect, Terentillus, a tri- 
bune, proposed the nomination of ten commissioners, to frame and 
digest a code of laws for the explanation and security of the rights 
of all orders of the state. A measure so equitable ought to have met 
with no opposition, it was, however, strenuously opposed by the 
patricians, who, by a fruitless contest, only exposed their own weak- 
ness. The decemviri were chosen ; but the election being made in 
the comitia by centuries, the consul Appius Claudius, with his col- 
league, were at the head of this important commission. The laws 
were framed, those celebrated statutes known by the name of the 
Twelve Tables, which are the basis of the great structm'e of the 
Roman jurisprudence, 451 A. C. 

2. An acquaintance with these ancient laws is therefore of impor- 
tance. Even in the most nourishing times of the republic they con- 
tinued to be of the highest authority. The^ have the encomium of 
Cicero himself; and we learn from him, that to commit these laws 
to memory was an essential part of a liberal education. From the 
twelve tables the jurisconsulti composed a system of judicial forms, 
for the regulation of the ditferent tribunals. The number of the 
laws was likewise from time to time increased by the senatusconsulta 
and plebiszita. 

3. The decemvirs were invested with all the powers of govern- 
ment, for the consulate had ceased on their creation. Each decem- 
vir by turn presided (or a day, and had the sovereign authority, with 
its insignia, the fasces.^ The nine others officiated solely as judges 
in the determination of lawsuits, and the correction of abuses. An 
abuse, however, of the most flagrant nature, committed by the chief 
of their own number, was destined speedily to bring their office to 
its termination. 

4. Appius Claudius, inflamed by lawless passion for the young 
Virginin, the betrothed spouse of Icilius, formerly a tribune of the 
people, employed a prothgate dependant to claim the maiden as his 
own property, on the false pretence of her being the daughter of 
one of his female slaves. The claim was made to the decemvir 
himself in judgment, who jixonounced an infamous decree, which 
tore from her lamily this helpless victim, and put her into the hands 
oi his o\vn minion. Her father, to save the honour of his child, 
plunged a dagger into her breast ; and the people, witnesses of this 
shocking scene, would have massacred Appius on the spot, if he bad 
not found means to escape amidst the tumult Their vengeance, 
however, tvas satiated by the instant abohtion of this hated magis- 
^cy, and by the death of Appius, who chose by his own hand to 



68 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

prevent the stroke of the executioner. The decemvirate had sub- 
sisted for three years. The consuls were now restored, together 
with the tribunes oi'tlie people, 449 A. C. 

SECTION XXVIII. 
INCREASE OF THE POPULAR POWER. 

1. The scale of the people was daily acquiring weight, at the ex- 
|>ehse of that of the highest or<ler. Two barriers, however, still 
seijarated the patricians and plebeians: one, a law which prevented 
their intennan-iage, and the other, tbe constitutional limitation of all 
the higher oilices to the order of tbe patricians. It was only neces- 
sary to remove these restrictions, and the patricians and plebeians 
were on a footing of perlect equality. The tirst, alter a long but 
fruitless contest, was at length agreed to by the senate ; and this 
concession had its usual effect of stimulating ine people to inllexible 
perseverance in their struggle for the latter. On an emergence cl 
uar tlie customary device was practised, of refusing to enter tlie 
rolls, unless upon the immediate enactment of a law, which should 
admit their capacity of holding all the othces of the republic. The 
senate sought a palliative, by the creation of six military tribunes in 
lieu of tbe consuls, three ot whom should be patricians, and three 
plebeians. This measure satisfied the people for a time : the consuls, 
nowever, were soon restored. 

2. The disorders of the republic, and frequent wars, had inter 
rupted the regular survey of the citizens. This was remedied by 
the creation ot a new magistracy. Two officers, under the title oi 
censors, were appointed (437 A. C), whose duty was not only to 
make the census every five years, out to inspect the morals, and 
regulate the duties of all the citizens : an office of dignity equal to 
its importance, exercised, in the latter times of the republic, onlj^ by 
consular persons, and aftenvards annexed to the supreme functions 
tf the emperors. 

3. The dissensions between the orders continued, with little varia- 
tion either in their causes or effects. The people generally, as the 
last resource, refused to enrol themselves, till overawed by the 
supreme authorify of a dictator. 'J'o obviate tbe frequent necessity 

/ of this measure, which enforced at Lest an unvvilling and compelled 
/■ obedience, the senate had recourse to a wise expedient ; this was, 
(•^ to give a regular pay to the troops. To defray this expense a mod- 
erate tax was imposed in proportion to the fortunes of the citizens. 
From this period the Roman system of v.ar assumed a new aspect. 
The senate always found soldiers at command ; the army was under 
its control ; the enterprise? of the republic were more extensive, 
and its successes more signal and important. \'eii, the proud rival 
of Rome, and its equal in extent and population, was taken by Camil- 
lus, after a siege of ten years, A. I . C'. 396. The art of war was 
in proved, as it now became a profession, instead of an occasional 
occupation. The Romans were, irom tliis circumstance, an over- 
matcn for all their neighbours. Their dominion, hitherto conhned 
to the territory of a i'ew miies, was now^ rapidly extended. It was 
hnpossible but that the detached states of Italy must have given way 
belore a people who were always in arms, and, by a perseverance 
alike resolute and judicious, were equal to every attempt in which 
they engaged. 



ANCIENT HISTORY. 59 

4. The taking of Veil was 'succeeded by a war with the Gaula. 
This people, a branch of the great nation of the Celtae, had opened 
to themselves a passage through the Alps at four diilerent periods, 
and were at this time efttablished in tne country between (liose 
mountains and the Appenincs. Under the command of'Brennus they 
laid siege to the Etruscan Clu.-ium ; and the people, of no warlike 
lurn themselves, solicited the aid of the Romans. The circumstan- 
ces recorded of this war with the Gauls throw o^ or it a cloud of 
lable and romance. The formidable power of Rome is said to have 
been, in a single campaign, su utterly exhausteil, that the Gauls en- 
tered the citj^ without resistance, and buinit it to the ground, 385 A. 
C. Though thus overpowered, the Romans, in a single engagement, 
reti-ieve ail their losses, and in one day's time there is not a Gaul 
left remaining within the Roman territory. 

■ To the burning of the city by the Gauls, the Roman writers attri- 
bute the loss of ail the records and monuments of their early history. 

5. it is shigular, that most of the Roman revolutions should have 
owed their origin to Avomen. From this cause we have seen spring 
the abolition of the regal oilice and the decemvirate. From this 
cause arose the change of the constitution, by which the plebeians 
became capable of holding the highest offices of the commonwealth. 
The younger daughter of Fabius Ambustus, married to a plebeian, 
envious of the honours of her elder sister, the wile of a patrician, 
stimulated her father to rouse (he lower order to a resolute purpose 
of asserting their equal right with the patricians to all the ofhces and 
dignities of the state. At'ter much turbulence and contest the final 
issue A\as the admission of the plebeians, lirst to the consulate, and 
afterwards to the cpnaorsbip, the praetorship, and priesthood (A. U. 
C. 454, and A. C. 300) . ia change beneiicial in the main, as consoli' 
dating the strength of the republic, and cutting ofl'the principal source 
of intestine disorder. The factions of the state had hitherto confined 
the growth of its power, its splendour, and prosperity ; for no state 
can at once be prosperous and anarchical. We shall now mark thq 
rapid elevation of the Roman name and empire. 



SECTION XXIX. 

CONQUEST GF ITALY BY THE ROMANS. 

1. The war with the Samnites now began, and was of long contin- 
uance ; but its successful termination was speedily followed by the 
reduction of all the states of Italy. In the course of this important 
war the Tarentines, the allies of the Samnites. sought the aid oi 
Pyrrhus, king of EpiruSj one of the greatest generals oi nis age. Pyrr- 
hus landed in Italy with 30,000 men and a train of elephants, 280 A. 
C. He was at lirst successful, but no longer so than till a short ex- 

f)crience reconciled the Romans to a new mode of war. Sensible at 
ength of the dithculties of his enterprise, and dreading a fatal issue, 
he embraced an invitation from the Sicilians to aid Ihem in a war 
with Carthage. On this pretext, which at least was not dishonoura* 
ble, Pyrrhus withdrew his troops from Italy. In this interval the 
Romans reduced to extremity the Samnites, the Tarentines, and the 
other allied states. Pyrrhus returned, and made a list effort near 
Beneventum. He was totally defeated, lost 26,000 men, and uban- 
doning at once all further views to Italy, returned with precipitation 



60 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

to his own dominions, 274 A. C. The hostife states submitted to the 
victorious power; and Rome, 480 years from the foundation of the 
city, was now mistress of all Italy. 

2. The policy observed by the Romans, ^vith respect to the con- 
quered nations, was wise and judicious. They removed to Rome 
all the leading men of the principal conquered cities, admitting them 
into the ancient urban and rustic tribes, and thus soothing the pride of 
the vanquished, by giving them an apparent share in their own do- 
mestic government ; while, in arranging the constitution of the cities, 
they filled their magistracies with illustrious Romans, whose abilities 
and influence were fitted to maintain those new provinces in alle- 
giance to the Roman government. 

3. Sicily had long been considered the granary of Italy. The 
Carthaginians at this time possessed considerable settlements in the 
island, and were ambitious of acquiring its entire dominion. An ob- 
vious policy led the Romans to dispute with them this hnportant ac- 
quisition, and gave rise to the Punic wars. This leads, by a natural 
connexion, to a short view of the history of Carthage and of Sicily 



SECTION XXX. 

HISTORY OF CARTHAGE. 

1. Carthage, according to the most probable accounts, M'as founded 
by a colony of Tyrians, about seventy years before the building of 
Rome. The colony had the same language, the same or nearly 
similar laAVS and consUtution, the same national character, v.ith th«- 
parent state. The city of Carthage was, at the period of' the Punn; 
wars, one of the most splendid in the world, and had under its domin 
ion 300 of the smaller cities of Africa bordering on the Mediterranean 
sea. 

2. The constitution of the I'epublic is celebrated by Aristotle as 
one of the most perfect of the governments of antiquity ; but we 
know little more than its general nature from ancient writers. Two 
magistrates, named suffetcs^ annually chosen, seem to have possesseti 
powers akin to those of the Roman consuls ; and the Carthaginian 
senate to .those of the senate of Rome; ^vith this remarkable diiTcr- 
ence, that, in the former, unanimity of opinion was requisite in all 
measures of importance. A divided senate transmitted the businesa 
to the assembly of the people. A tribunal of 104 judges took cog- 
nizance of military operations, and of the conduct of their generals. 
A superior council of five seems to have controled the decisions of 
the larger tribunal. Two peculiarities of the Carthaginian policy 
have been censured by x\ristotle. One peculiarity was, ihat the same 
person might hold several employments or offices in ilie state ; the 
other that the poor were debarred from all offices of trust or import- 
ance. But the former of these is frequently both expedient and 
necessary, and the latter seen^s agreeable to the soundest policy ; for 
in ofhces of trust poverty offers too powerful an incitement to devia- 
tion from duty. 

3. The tirst settlements made by the Carthaginians were entirely 
in the way of commerce. Trading to the coast of Spain for gold, 
they built Carthagena and Gades : and coasting along the ■Western 
ehore of Africa, they had establishments for the same purpose as fai 
as the 25th degree of north latitude. The Periplus ofHanno affords 



ANCIENT HISTORY. 61 

a proof of ardent enterprise and policy. Desirous of extending a 
limited territory they armed against the Mauritanians, Numidians, 
and all the neighbouring nations; employing mercenary troops, 
which they levied, not only in Africa, but in Spain, the two Gauls, 
and Greece. 

4. The annals of the Carthaginian state are little known till their 
wars with the Romans. The first of their wars mentioned in history 
is that with the Greek colonies of Sicily. Darius courted their alli- 
ance when he meditatpd the conquest of Greece ; and Xerxes re- 
newed that treaty when he followed out the designs of his lather. 



SECTION XXXI. 

HISTORY OF SICILY. 

1. TiiK early periods of the history of Sicily are as little knoivn a9 
those of Carthage. The Phoenicians had sent colonies to Sicily be* 
fore the Trojan war. The Greeks, in after times, made considerable 
settlements in the island. The Corinthians founded Syracuse, which 
became the most illustrious of the Greek cities of Sicily: and from 
Syracuse arose afterwards Agrigentum, Acra, Casmene, Camarene, 
and several other Sicilian towns 

2. The government of Syracuse was monarchical, and might have 
long remained so, if all its sovereigns had inherited the abilities and 
values of Gelon. But his successors, exercising the worst of tyran- 
ny, compelled their subjects at length to abolish the regal govein- 
cient ; and their example was speedily followed by all the Grecian 
states of Sicily. 

3. The monarchy of Syracuse, however, was revived about sixty 
years after in tiie person of Dionysius, a man of obscure origin, but 
of signal ability. Twice expelled for a tyrannical exercise of domin- 
ion, he as often found means to overpower his enemies, and re-estab- 
lish himself in the throne. At his death the crown passed, without 
opposition, to his son, Dionysius the younger, a weak and capricious 
tyrant, vvhoni his subjects judging unworthy to reign, dethroned and 
banished, 357 A. C. The crown \vas confei-red on Dion, his brother- 
in-law, whose amiable chai'acter' rendered him the delight of his 
people. But after a short reign this prince fell a victim to treason. 
Aided by the distractions of Syracuse consequent on this event, Dio- 
n3Tsius i-emounted the throne ten years after his expulsion ; but bis 
tyrannical disjjosition, heightened by his misfortunes, became at 
lcnjj;th so intolerable, that he was expelled a second time, and 
banished toCorinth, where he ended his days in poverty and obscurity. 
The author of this revolution was the illustrious" Timoleon, to 
whose abilities and virtues liis country owed equally its Uberty and 
its subsequent happiness and prosperity, 343 A. C. 

The signal opposition of national character between the Romat*. 
and the Carthaginians may be easily explained, when we attend to 
the effects of a commercial life on the genius and manners of a nation. 
The vices of a commercial people are seltishness, cunning, avarice, 
with an absence of every heroic and patriotic virtue. The favoura- 
ble effects of commerce are industry, frugality, general courtesy of 
manners, improvement in the useful arts. Attending to these conse- 



62 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

qences of the prevalence of the commercial spirit, we shall see the 
principal features of the Carthaginian character opposed to the 
Koman. 



SECTION XXXtt. 

THE PUNtC WARS. 

1. The triumph which the Romans had* obtained over Pvn'hui 
«eemed to give assurance of success in any enterprise in vvhicn they 
should engage. The Mamertines, a people of Campania, obtained 
aid from the Romans in an unjustiHable attempt which they made to 
seize Messina, a Sicilian town allied to Syracuse. The Syracusjiu:?, 
at first assisted by the Carthaginians, opposed this invasion ; but the 
former, more alamied by the ambitions encroachments of the Car- 
thaginiims on Sicily, soon repented of this rash alliance, and joined 
the Romans in the purpose of expelling the Carthaginians entirely 
from the island. In fact the Sicilians seem to have had only the des- 
perate choice of linal submission either to Rome or Carthage. 
They chose tlie former, as the alternative least dishonourable. Tlie 
Romans had ever been their friends, the Carthaginians their enen)ies. 

2. Agrigentum, possessed by the C:"arthagHiians, was taken, after 
a long siege, by the joint forces of Rome and Syracuse. A Roman 
fleet, the first which they ever had, was equipped in a few weeks^ 
and gained a complete victory over that of Carthage, at this time the 
g?eatest maritime power in the world, 2G0 A. C, These successes 
^vere followed by the reduction of Corsica and Sardinia. In a second 
mval engagement the Romans took from the Carthaginians sixty ol 
their ships of war, and now resolutely prepared for the ioA asicn of 
Africa. The consul Regulus commanded the expedition. He ad- 
vanced to the gates of Carthage ; and such was the general conster- 
nation that the enemy proposed a capitulation. Inspirited, however, 
by a timely aid of Greek troops under Xantippu.^, Ihe Carthaginians 
made a desperate eftbrt, and, defeating the Roman army, made Regu- 
lus their prisoner. But, repeatedly det'eated in Sicily, they were at 
length serioMsly desirous of a peace ; and the Roman general was 
sent with their ambassadors to Rome to aid the negotiation, under a 
solemn oath to return to Carthage as a prisoner, if the treaty should 
fail. It was rejected at the uigent desire of Regulus, who thus sac- 
riiiced his life to what he judged the interest of his country. 

3. Lilybceum, the strongest of the Sicilian towns belonging to 
Carthage, was taken after a siege of nine years. After some alter- 
nate successes two naval battles won by the Romans terminated >he 
war, and Carthage at last obtained a peace on the humiliating terms 
of abandoning to the Romans all her possessions in Sicily, ttie pay- 
ment of 3,200 talents of silver, the restitution of all prisoners without 
ranso.n, and a solemn engagement never to make war against Syra- 
cuse or her allies. The island of Sicily was now declared a Roman 
province, though Syracuse maintained its independent government, 
A. U. C, 511,and A. C. 241. 

4. The peace between Rome and Carthage was of tvventy-thieo 
years' duration. The latter power was rfcruiting its strength, and 
meditated to revenge its losses and disgrace. The second Punic war 
began on the part of the Carthaginians, who besieged Saguntum, a 
city of Spain, in alliance with the Romans. The young Hiumiual 



ANCIEiVr HISTORY. €3 

took Sagiintiim after a siege of seven ir.onths ; the desperate inhabi 
tiintg setting tire to the town, and peri^huig amidst iho iJames. Han- 
nibal now iormsd the bold design of carrying the war into Italy. He 
provided against every diHiculty, gained to his interest a part of the 
Gallic tribes, passed tlio Pyrenees, and tinally the Alps,* in a toil- 
some march of live months and a half from his leaving Carthagena, 
and arrived in Italy with 20,000 foot and 6,000 horse. 

5. hi the first engagement the Romans were defeated. They also 
lo&t two oHier important battles at Trebia, and the lake Thr.tsyme- 
nus. In the latter of these the consul Flaminius was killed, and his 
army cut to pieces. Hannibal advanced to Cannje in Apulia, where 
(be Romans opposed him with their whole force. A memorable 
defeat ensued, in %vhich 40.000 Romans were left dead upon the 
field, and among these the consul iEniilius, and almost the whole 
body of the knights. If Hannibal had taken advantage of this great 
victory, by instantly attacking Rome, the fate of the rep.iblic was 
inevitable ; but he deliberatetl, and the occasion was lost. The 
Komans concentrated all their strength. Even the slaves armed in 
the common cause, and victory once more attended the standards of 
the republic. Philip, king of Macedon, joined his forces to the 
Carthag.niiins, but, defeated oy Levinus, speedily withdrew his as- 
sistance. Hannibal retreated before the brave Marcellus. Syracuse 
had now taken part with Carthage, and thus paved the wayibr the 
loss of its own liberty. Marcellus besieged the city, which was long 
defended by the inventive genius of Archimedes; but was taken ia 
the third year by es.-alade in the night. This event put an end to 
the kingdom of Syracuse, which now became a part of the Rom;ai 
province of Sicily, A. U. C. 512, A. C. 212. 

C. While the war in Italy was prosperously conducted by the 
great Fabius, who, by constantly avoiding a general engagement, 
found the true method of weakening his enemy, the younger Scipio 
accomplished the entire reduction of Spain. Asdrubal was sent 
into Italy to the aid of his brother Hannibal, but was defeated by 
the consal Claudius, and slain in battle. Scipio, triumphant in Spain, 
passed over into Africa, and carried havoc antl devastation to the 
gates of Carthai^e. Alarmed for the fate of their empire the Car- 
thaginians hastily recalled Hannibal from Italy, 'ihe battle of 
Ze:na decided the fate of the war, by the utter defeat of the Cartha- 
ginians. They entreated a peace, which the Romans gave on these 
conditions : that the Cacthagininis should abandon Sp;un, Sicily, an I 
all tlie islands; surrender all their prisoners, give up the whole cf 
th^ir tleet except ten gailies, pay 10,000 talents, and, in future, 
undertake no war without consent of the Romans, A. U. C 552, A. 
C. 202. 

7. Every thing now concurred to swell the pride of the conquer- 
ors, and to extend their dominion. A war with Philip of Macedon 
was terminated by Ids dcieat ; and his son Demetrius was sent to 
Rome as a hostage for the payment of a heavy tribute imposed on 
the vanquished. A war with Antiochus, king of Syria, ended in 
hi^ ceding to the Romans the whole of the Lesser Asia. But these 
spli;ndid conquests, while they enlarged the empire, were fatal to its 

* The passage of Hannibal over the Alps has been lately illustrated, 
in a most learned and ingenious essay, by Mr. Whitaker (the celebrated 
historian of Manchesttr, and vindicator of Queen Mary), who has, with 
great acuteness, traced every step of the Carthaginian general, from his 
crossing the Rhone to his final arrival in Italy. 



64 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

virtues, and subversive of the pure and venerable simplicity of 
ancient times. 

8. The third Punic war began A. U. C. 605, A. C. 149, and ende 
in the ruin of Carthage. An unsuccesslul war with the Numidiang 
had reduced the Carthaginians to great weakness, and the Romans 
meanly laid hold of that opportunity to invade At'rica. Conscious ol 
their utter inability to resist this formidable power, the Carthaginians 
offered every submission, and consented even to acknowledge them- 
selves the subjects of Home. The llomans demanded 300 hostages, 
for the strict performance of every condition that should be enjoined 
by the senate. The hostages were given, and the condition requir- 
ed was, that Carthage itself should be razed to its foundation. Des- 
pair gave courage to this miserable people, and they determined to 
die in the defence of their native city. But the noble effort was in 
vain. Carthage was taken by storm, its inhabitants massacred, and 
the city burnt to the ground, A. U. C. 607, A. C. 146. 

9. The same year was signalized by the entire reduction of 
Greece under the dominion of the Romans. This wa.s the aera of 
the dawn of luxury and taste at Rome, the natural fruit of foreign 
wealth, and an acquaintance with foreign manners. In the unequal 
distribution of this imported wealth, the vices to which it gave rise, 
the corruption and venality of which it became the instrument, we 
see the remoter causes of those fatal disorders to which the republic 
X>wed its dissolution. 



SECTION XXXIU. 

THE GRACCHI, AND THE CORRUPTION OF THE COMMON- 
WEALTH. 

1. At this period arose Tiberius and Cains Gracchus, two noble 
youths, whose zeal to reform the growing corruptions of the state, 
precipitated them at length into measures destructive of all govern- 
ment and social order. Tiberius, the elder of the brothers, urged 
the people to assert by force tho revival of an ancient law, for limit- 
ing property in land, and thus abridging the overgrown estates of the 
patricians. A tumult was the consequence, in which Tiberius, with 
300 of his friends, were killed in the forum. This fatal example did 
not deter his brother, Caius Gracchus, from pursuing a similar career 
of zeal or of ambition. After some successful experiments ot his pow 
er, while in the office of tribune, he directed his scrutiny into the cor- 
ruptions of the senate, and prevailed in depriving that body of its con 
stitutional control over all the inferior magistrates of the state. I-.m- 

S loving, like his brother, the dangerous engine of tumultuary force, 
e fell a victim to it himself; with 3,000 of his partisans, who were 
slaughtered in the streets of Rome. The tumults attending the se- 
dition of the Gracchi were the prelude to those civil disorders which 
now followed in quick succession to the end of the commonwealth. 

2. The circumstances amending the war with Jugurtha gave deci- 
sive proof of the corruption of the Roman manners. Jugurtha, 
grandson of Masinissa, sought to usurp the crown of Numidia by 
destroying his cousins, Hiempsal and Adherbal, the sons of trie last 
king. He murdered the elder ot the brothers; and the younger 
applying for aid to Rome, Jugurtha bribed the senate, who declaped 
him innocent of all culpable act or design, and decreed to him the 



ANCIENT HISTORY. 6ft 

sovereignty of half the kingdom. This operated only as an incentive 
to his cri-.ninal ambition. He declared open war again.*t his cousin, 
besieged him m his capital of Cirta, and tinally puc him to death. 
I'o avert a threatened war Jiigurtha went in perion to Rome, 
pleaded his own canse in the senate, and once more by bribery 
secured his acquittal from all charge of criminality. A perseverance, 
however, in a similar train of conduct tinally drew on him the ven- 
geance of the Romans ; and being l^trayed into their hands l)y his 
own father-in-law, he was brought m chains to Rome, to grace the 
triumph of the consul Marius, contined to a dungeon, and starved to 
death, A. U. C. 651, A. C. 103. 

3. The ambition of the allied states of Italy to attain the rights 
of citizenship produced the .'=ocial war, which ended in a conces- 
sion of those rights to such of the confederates as should return 
peaceably to their allegiance. This war with the allies was a pre- 
lude to that which followed between Rome and her own citizens. 
Sylla and Marius, rivals, and thence enemies, were at this time the 
leaders of the republic. Sylla, commanding in a war against Mithri- 
dates, was superseded, and recalled from Asia. He refused to obey 
the mandate, and found his army well disposed to support him. 
" Let us march to Rome," said they, with one voice; "lead us on 
to avenge the cause of oppressed liberty." Sylla accordingly led 
them on, and they entered Rome sword in hand. Marius and his 
partisans tied with precipitation from the city, and Sylla ruled for a 
white triumphant. But the taction of his rival soon recovered 
strength. Marius returning to Italy, and joining his forces to those 
of Ciana, his zealous p;irtiz:ia, laid sieg:-, to Rome, and,' while Sylla 
was engaged in the Mithridatic war, compelled the city to absolute 
submission. After a horrible massacre of all whom they esteemed 
iheir enemies, Marius and Cinna proclaimed themselves consuls, 
without the formality of an election ; but Marius died a few days 
after in a tit of debauch. 

4. After a victorious campaign in Asia, Sylla returned to Italy, 
and, joined by Cethe^us, Verres, and the young Pompey, gave 
battle to the party of his enemies, and entirely defeated them. 
His entry into Rome was signalized by a dreadful massacre, and a 
proscription, which hail tor its object the extermination of every 
enemy whom he had in Italy. t'Jected dictator for an unlimited 
period, he was now '.vithout a rival in authority, and absolute m;ister 
of the government, which, of course, was no longer a republic. 
In the exercise of his dominion he deserved more praise than in 
the means of acquiring it. He restored the senate to its judicial 
authority, regulated t'le election to all the important othces of 
stite, and enacted n»anv excellent laws against oppression and the 
abu^e of power. Finally, he gave demonstration, if not of a pure 
conscience, at least of a magnanimous intrepidity of character, by 
voluntarily resigning all command, retiring to the condition of a 
private citizen, and offering publicly to give an account of his con- 
duct. He died within a short time after his resignation. He was 
certainly a man of great strength of mind, and had some of the qual- 
ities of a heroic character; but he lived in evil times, when it wiis 
impossible at once to be great and to be virtuous. 

5. The death of Sylla renewed the civil war. Lepidus, a man of 
no abilities, aspired to succeed him in power ; and Pompey, with 
superior talents, cherished the same ambition. While the latter was 
employed in the reduction of the revolted provinces of Asia, the 

F3 



66 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

conspiracy of Catiline threatened tlie entire destruction of Rome. 
It was extinguished by the provident zeal and active patriotism 
of the consul Cicero. Catiline and his chief accomplices were 
attacked in the field, and defeated by Antonius. The traitor made 
a desperate defence, and died a better death than his crimes had 
merited. 

6. Julius Cassar now rose into public notice. Sylla dreaded his 
abilities and ambition, and had gumbered him among the proscribed. 
"• There is many a Marias," said he, *•' in the person of that young 
man." He had learned prudence from the danger of his situation, 
and tacitly courted popularity, without that show of eaterprise 
which gives alarm to a rival. While Pompey and Crassus contended 
for the command of the republic, Caesar, who knew that, by attach- 
ing himself to either rival, he infallibly made the other his enemy, 
showed the reach of his talents by" reconciling them, and thus 
acquiring the friendship of both. From favo ir to their mutual friend 
they agreed to a partition of power ; and thus was formed the first 
triumvirate. Caesar was elected consul. He increased his popularity 
by a division of lands among the poorer citizens, and strengthened 
his interest with Pompey by giving him his daughter in marriage. 
He had the command of four legions, and the government of trans- 
alpine Gaul and Illyria. 

7. The military glory of the republic, and the reputation of 
Caesar, were nobly sustained in Gaul. In the first year of his govern- 
ment he subdued the Helvetii, who, leaving their own country, had 
attempted to settle themselves in the bettor regions of the Koman 
province. He totally defeated the Germans umier Ariovistus, who 
had attempted a similar invasion. The Belgas, the Nervii, the 
Celtic Gauls, the Suevi, Menapii, and other warlike nations, were 
all successively brought under subjection. In the fourth year of his 
government he transported his army into Britain. Landing at Peal, 
he was opposed by the natives with equal courage and military skill. 
He gained, however, several advantages, and, binding the Britons to 
submission, withdrew into Gaul on the approach of winter. He 
returned in the following summer with a grea'er force, and, prose- 
cuting his victories, reduced a considerable portion of the island 
under the Roman dominion, A. C. 54. But the pressure of affairs 
in Italy suspended for a tinic the progress of the Koman arms in 
Britain. 

8. C«sar dreaded the abilities of Cicoro, who had opposed him 
in his views of ambition. By the machinations of his partizans, 
while he was absent in Gaul, he procured the banishment of Cicero, 
and the confiscation of his estates, on the pretence of illegal meas- 
ures pursued in the suppression of the conspiracy of Catiline. 
During an exile of sixteen months in (jreece, Cicero gave way to a 
tlespondoncy of mind utterly unworthy of the philosopher. Pom- 

f>sy bad abandoned him, and this ungrateful desertion bore most 
leavily upon his mind. In the wane of his reputation Pompey soon 
became desirous to prop his own sinking fortunes by the abilities of 
Cicero, and eagerly promoted his recal from exile. The death of 
Crassus, in an expedition against the Parthians, now dissolved the 
triumvirate ; and Caesar and Pompey, whose union had no other bond 
than interest, began each to conceive separately the view of undivid- 
ed dominion. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 67 



SECTION XXXIV 



PROGRESS OF THE CIVIL WARS. SECOND TRIUMVIRATE. 
FALL OF THE REPUBLIC. 

1. TiTE ambition of Caesar and of Pompey had now evidently the 
£ame object ; and it seemed to be the only question, in those degen- 
erate times, to which of these aspiring leaders the republic should 
surrender its liberties. The term of CcEsar's government was near 
expiring. To secure himself against a deprivation of power, he 
procured a proposal to be made in the senate by one of his partizans, 
which wore the appearance of great moderation, namely, that 
Caesar and Pompey should either both continue in their govern- 
ments, or both be deprived of them, as they were equally capable 
of endangering the public liberty by an abuse of power. The mo- 
tion passed, and Caesar immediately offered to resign, on condition 
that his rival should do so ; but Pompey rejected the accomniodation. 
The term of his government had yet several years' duration, and 
he suspected the proposal to be a snare laid for him by Cassar. He 
resolved to maintain his right by force of arms, and a civil war wa3 
the necessary consequence. The consuls and a great part of the 
senate were the friends of Pompey. Cassar had on his side a victo- 
rious army, consisting of ten legions, and the body of the Roman cit- 
izens, whom he had won by his liberality. Mark Antony and Cas- 
sius, at that time tribunes of the people, left Ro.ne, and repaired to 
Caesar's camp. 

2. The senate, apprehensive of his designs, pronounced a decree, 
branding with the crime of parricide any commander who should 
dare to pass the Rubicon (the boundary between Italy and the 
Gauls) with a single cohort,^ without their pemiission. Caesar 
infringed the prohibition, and marched straight to Rome. — Pompey, 
to whom the senate committed the defence of the state, had no 
army. He quitted Rome, followed by the consuls and a pwrt of the • 
senate, and endeavoured hastily to levy troops over all Italy and 
Greece ; while Cassar triumphantly entered the city amidst the 
acclamations of the people, seized the public trersury, and possessed 
himself of the supreme authority without opposition. Having se- 
cured the capital of the empire, he set out to take the field against 
lier enemies. The lieutebants of Pompey had possession of Spain. 
Caesar marched thither, and subdued the whole country in the 
space of forty days. He returned victorious to Rome, where, in his 
absence, he had been nominated dictator. In the succeeding elec- 
tion of magistrates he was chosen consul, and xvas thus invested, by 
a double title, with the right of acting in the name of the republic. 
Pompey had by this time raised a numerous army, and C<Esar was 
anxious to bring him to a decisive engagement. The two armies 
met in Illyria, and the first contiict was of dor.btful issue. Caesar 
led his army into Macedonia, where he found a large reinforcement 
He gave battle to Pompey in the field of Pharsalia, and entirely 
defeated him. Fifteen thousand of Pompey's army were slain, and 
24,0U0 surrendered themselves prisoners to the victor, A. U. C. 705, 
A. C. 49. 

3 The fate of Pompey was miserable in the extreme. With his 
wile Cornelia, the companion of his misfortunes, he fled to Egypt in 



68 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

a single ship, trusting to the protection of Ptolemy, whose father 
had owed to nim his settlement on the throne. But the ministers of 
this young prince, dreading the power of Caesar, basely courted his 
favour by the murder of his rival. Pompey was broiigbt ashore in 
a small boat by the guanis ol the king ; and a Roman centurion, 



who had fought under his banners, stabbed him, even in the sight of 
Corneliii, and cutting off his head, threw the body naked on the 
sands. Caisar pursued Pompey to Alexandriaj where the head of 



that unhappy man, presented as a gratelul oflering, gave him the 
first intelligence of his fate. He wept, and turned with horror from 
(he sight. He caused every honour to be paid to his memory, and 
fi-om that time showed the utmost beneficence to the partizaiis of 
his unfortunate rival. 

4. The sovereignty of Egypt was in dispute between Ptolemy 
and his sister Cleopatra. The latter, though married to her brother, 
and joint heir by her father's will, was ambitious of undivided author- 
ity ; and Caesar, captivated by her charms, decided the contest in 
favour of the beauteous queen. A war ensued, in which Ptolemy 
was killed, and Egypt subdued by the Roman arms. In this war the 
famous library of Alexandria was burnt to ashes, A. C. 48. A revolt 
of the Asiatic provinces, under Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates, 
was signally chastised ; and the report was conveyed by Caesar to 
the Roman senate in three words, ^en*, vidi^ vici. The conqueror 
returned to Rome, which needed his presence ; for Italy was divid- 
ed, and ihe partizans of Pompey were yet extremely formidable. 
His two sons, with Cato and Scipio, were in arms in Africa. Caesar 
pursued them thithf r, and proceeding with caution till secure of his 
advantage, defeated them in a decisive engagement at Thapsus. 
Scipio perished in his passage to Spain. Cato, shutting himself up 
01 Utica, meditated a brave resistance; but seeing no hope of suc- 
cess, he finally determined not to survive the liberties of his country, 
and fell deliberately by his own hand. Mauritania was now added 
to the number of the Roman provinces ; and Caesar returned to 
Rome, absolute mnste." of the empire. 

5. From that moment his attention was directed solely to (he 
prosperity and happiness of the Roman peopleJ He remembered 
00 longer that there had been opposite parties ; beneficent alike to 
the friends of Pompey as to his own. He laboured to reform every 
species of abuse or grievance. He introduced order into every de- 
partment of the state, defining tne separate rights of all its magistrates, 
and extending his care to the regulation of its most distant piovinces. 
The reformation of the kalendar, the draining of the marshes of 
Italy, the navigation of the Tiber, the embellisliment of Rome, the 
complete survey and delineation of the empire, alternately em- 
ployed his liberal and capacious mind. Returning from the final 
overthrow of Pompey's party in Spain, he was hailed the father of 
his country, was created consul for ten years, and perpetual dic- 
tator.; His person was declared sacred, his title henceforth iinperator^ 
A. U. C. 709, A. C. 15. 

(3. The Roman republic had thus finally resigned its liberties, by 
its own acts. They were not extinguished, as Montesquieu has 
well remarked, by the ambition of a Pompey or of a Caesar. If the 
sentiments of Caesar and Pompey bad been the same with those of 
1,-ato, others would have had the same ambitious thoughts ; and, 
since the commonwealth was fated to fall, there never would have 
been Wc^nting a hand to drag it to destruction. Yet Cssar had by 



ANCIENT HISTORY. 69 

force subdued his country ; and therefore was a usurper. If it had 
6een possible to restore the liberties of the republic, and with these 
its happiness, by the suppression of his usurpation, the attempt 
would have merited the praise at least of good design. Perhaps so 
thought his murderers; and thus, however weak their policy, how- 
ever base and treacherous their act, they will ever find apologists. 
They expected an impossible issue, as the event demonstrated. 

7. A conspiracy was formed by sixty of the senators, at the head 
of whom were Brutus and Cassius; the former a man beloved of 
Cajsar, who had saved his hfe, and heaped upon him numberless 
benefits. It was rumoured that the dictator wished to add to his 
numerous titles that of king, and that the ides of March was tixed 
on lor investing him with the diadem. On that day, when taking 
his seat in the senate-hoilse, he was suddenly assailed by the con- 
spirators. He defended himself for some time against their daggers, 
till, seeing Brutus among the number, he faintly exclaimed, " And 
vou, too, my son !" and covering his face with his robe, resigned 
himself to his fate. He fell, pierced by twenty-three wounds, A. U. 
C. 711, and A. C. 43. 

8. The Roman people were struck with horror at the deed. 
They loved Caesar, master as he was of their lives and liberties. 
M:irk Antony and Lepidus, ambitious of succeeding to the power ol 
the dictator, resolved to pave the way by avenging his death. 
CsBsar, by his testament, had bequeathed a great part of his fortune 
to the people ; and they were penetrated with gratitude to his 
memory. A public harangue by Antony over the bleeding body, ex- 
posed in the forum, inflamed them with the utmost indignation 
against his murderers, who must have met with instant destiniction 
if they had not escaped with precipitation from the city. Antony 
profited by these dispositions ; and the avenger of Csesar, of course 
the favourite of the people, was in the immediate prospect of attain- 
ing a similar height of dominion. In this, however, he found a for- 
midable competitor in Octavius^ the grand-nephew and the adopted 
heir of Caesar, who, at this critical moment, arrived in Rome. 
Availing himself of these titles, Octavius gained the senate to his inter- 
est, and divided with Antony the favour of the people. The rivals 
soon perceived that it was their wisest plan to unite their interests ; 
and they admitted Lepidus into their association, whose power, as 
governor of Gavd, and immense riches, gave him a title to a share 
of authority. Thus was formed the second triumvirate, the effects 
of whose union were beyond measure dreadful to the republic. 
The triumviri divided among themselves the provinces, and cement- 
ed their union by a dehberate sacrifice made by each of his best 
friends to the vengeance of his associates. Antony consigned to 
death his uncle Lucius ; Lepidus his brother Paulus ; and Octavius 
his guardian Toranius and his friend Cicero. In this horrible pro- 
scription 300 senators and 3,000 knights were put to death. 

9. Octavius and Antony now marched against the conspirators, who 
had a Ibrmidable army in the field in Thrace, commanded by Brutus 
and Cassius. An engagement ensued at Philippi, which decided 
the fate of the empire. Antony obtained the victory, for Octavius 
had no military talents. He was destitute even of personal bravery, 
and his conduct after the victory was stained with that cruelty which 
IS ever the attendant of cowardice. Brutus and Cassius escaped the 
vengeance of their enemies by a voluntary death. Antony now 
sought a recompense for his troops by the plunder of the east 



70 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

While in Cilicia, he summoned Cleopatra to answer for her conduct 
in dethroning an infant brother, and in openly favouring the party of 
Brutus and Cassius. The queen came to 1 arsus, and made a com- 
plete conquest of the triumvir. Imniersetl in luxury, and intoxicated 
with love, he forgot glory, ambition, fame, and every thing, for 
Cleopatra. Octavius saw this phreusy with delight, as the prepara- 
tive of his rival's ruin. He had nothing to dread from Lepidus, 
whose insigniticant character first drew on him the contempt of his 
partizans; and whose folly, in attempting an invasion of the province 
of his colleague, was punished by his deposition and banishment. 

10. Antony had in his madness lavished the provinces of the em. 
pire in gifts to his paramour and her children. The Roman people 
were justly indignant at these enormities; and the divorce of liis 
wife Octavia, the sister of his colleague, was at length the signal of 
declared hostility between them. An immense armament, chiefly 
naval, came at length to a decisive conflict near Actium, on the 
coast of Epirus. Cleopatra, who attended her lover, deserted him 
with her galleys in the heat of the engagement ; and such was the 
infatuation of Antony, that he abandoned his fleet, and followed her. 
After a contest ofsome hours, they yielded to the squadron of Octavius^ 
A. U. C. 723, A. C. 31. The victor pursued the fugitives to Egypt ; 
and the base Cleopatra proffered terms to Octavius, including the 
surrender of her kingdom, and the abandonment of Antony. After 
an unsuccessful attempt at resistance, Antony anticipated his fate 
by falling on his sword. Cleopatra soon after, either from remorse, 
or more probably from mortified ambition, as she found it was Octa- 
vius's design to lead her in chains to Rome to grace his tiiumph, had 
courage to follow the example of her lover, and put herself to death 
by the poison of an asp. Octavius returned to Home sole master of 
the Roman empire, A. U. C. 727, A. C. 27. 



SECTION XXXV. 

CONSIDERATIONS OF SUCH PARTICULARS AS MARK THE 
GENIUS AND NATIONAL CHARACTER OF THE ROMANS. 

SYSTEM OF ROMAN EDUCATION. 

1. A vTRTUoup but rigid severity oi' manners was the characteristic 
of the Romans under their kings, and in the first ages of the repub- 
lic. The private lifie of the citizens, frugal, temperate, and labori- 
ous, had its influence on their public character. The {patria poteslas) 
' paternal authority gave to every head of a family a sovereign author- 
ity over all the members that co-nnosed it- an(l this power, felt as a 
righto*.' nature, was never roused. Plutarch has rf nwrked, as a defect 
in the Roman laws, that they did not prescribe, as those of Lacedte- 
mon, a sy:«tem and rules lor the education of youth. But the truth 
is, the manners of the people supplied this want. The utmost at- 
tention was bestowed in the early lonnation of the mind and charac- 
ter. The excellent author of the dialogue De Oratoribiis (cmcerning 
orators) presents a valuable picture of the Roman education in the 
early ages of the commonwealth, contrasted with the less virtuous 
practice of the more refined ages. The Roman matrons did not 
aoandon their infants to mercenary nurses. They regarded the 
Mi-eful nurture of their offspring, the rudiments of theii education, 



ANCIENT HISTORY. 7l 

atui the necessiafy occupations of their household, as the highest 
points of female merit.' Next to the care bestowed in the instilment 
of virtiious morals, a remarkable degree of attention seems to have 
been given to the language of chil-dren, and to the attainment of 
U correctness and purity of expression. Cicero informs us that the 
O'racc/ii, the sons of Cornelia, were educated, non tain in grmmio 
quutn in serrn07ie inatns^ in the sperxh more than in the bosorn of theii 
iiiolher That urbanity which characterized the Koman citizens 
showed itself particularly in their speech and gesture. 

2. The attention to the language of the youth had another source- 
It was by eloquence, more than by any other talent, that the young 
Uoman could rise to the highest otfices and dignities of the state. 
The studia forcnsia {forensic studies) were, therefore, a principal ob- 
ject of the Koman education. Plutarch informs us, that among ihe 
sports of the children at Rome, one was pleading causes belore a 
mocic tribunal, and accusing and defending a criminal in the usual 
forms of judicial procedure. 

3. The exercises of the body were likewise particularly attended 
to ; whatever might harden the temperament, and confer strength 
and agility. These exercises were daily practised by the youth, 
under the eye of their elders, in the Campus Martius. 

4. At seventeen the youtli assumed the manly robe. He was 
consigned to the care of a master of rhetoric, whom he attended 
constantly to the forum, or to the courts of justice ; for, to be an 
accomplished gentleman, it ^\■us necessary for a Roman to be an ac- 
complished orator. The pains bestowed on the attainment of this 
character, and the best instructions for its acquisition, we learn from 
the writings of Cicero, Q,uinlilian, and the younger Pliny, 



SECTION XXXVl. 



OF THE PROGRESS OF LITERATURE AMONG THE ROMANS. 

1. Before the intercourse with Greece, which took place after 
the Punic wars, the Roman people was utterly rude and illiterate. 
As among all nations the first appearance of the literary spirit is 
shown in poetical compof?ition, the Roman warrior had probably, 
lik" the Indian or the Celtic, his war songs, which celebrated his 
triumphs in batlle. Religion likewise employs the earliest poetry 
of most nations; and if a people subsist by agriculture, a plentiful 
harvest is celebrated in the rustic song of the husbandman. The 
versus Jescemiini {Jescennine verses), mentioned by Livy, were proba- 
bly ot the nature of a poetical dialogue, or alternate verses sung by 
the labourers, in a strain of coarse merriment and raillery. This 
sht)ws a dawning of the drama. 

2. About the 39tJth year of Rome, on occasion of a pestilence,' 
luitumes (^drolls or stage dancers) were brought from Etrurla, q^ 
act lihiciiiis ntodos saltantcs, hand iadecoros inotus more Tasco dabant ; 
whi) danced to the tunes of a naisiciiin. and. in fae Tuscan fashion, exhi- 
bited inutiohs tJuil zcerr not u)igraccful. Livy tells us that the Roman 
youth imitated these performances, and added to them rude and joc- 
ular verses, probably the iescennine dialogues. The regular drama 
was introduced at Rome from Greece by Livius .\ndronicu5, A. U. C. 



-2 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

514. The earliest Roman plays were therefore, we may 
translations from the Greek. 

Et post punka bella quietus quaerere coepit, i. 

Quid Sophocles, et Thespis, et ^schylus utile ferrent. 

Hor. Epist. Lib. II, i. 

And being at peace after the Punic wars, the Romans began to inquire 
what ad\'antages might be derived from the writings of Sophocles, Thespis, 
and ^schylus. 

3. Of the early Roman drama, Ennlus was a great ornament, and 
from his time the art made rapid advancement. The comedies of 
Plautus, the contemporary of Ennius, with great strength and spirit 
of dialogue, display a considerahle knowledge of human nature, 
and are read at this day with pleasure. 

4. Cajcilius improved so much on the comedy of Plautus, that he 
is mentioned by Cicero as perhaps the best of the Roman comic 
writers. Of his compositions we have no remains. His patronage 
fostered the rising genius of Terence, whose first comedy, the Jin- 
dria, was performed A. U. C. 587. The merit of the comedies of 
Terence lies in that nature and simplicity which are observable in 
the structure of his fables, and in the delineation of his characters. 
They are delicient, however, in comic energy ; and are not calcu- 
lated to excite ludicrous emotions. They are cbietly borrowed from 
the Greek of Menander and Apollodorus. 

5. Tu^ Roman comedy was of four different species : the comedia 
to^uta or pnetexUita, tlie comedia tabernaria, the attellance, and the 
minu. The lirst admitted serious scenes and personages, and was of 
the nature of the modern sentimental comedy. The second was a 
representation of ordinary life and manners. The attellame were 
pieces where the dialogue was not committed to writing, but the 
subject of the scene was prescribed, and the dialogue tilled up by 
the talents of the actors. The mimi were pieces of comedy ot the 
lowest species ; farces, or entertainments of bulfoonery ; though 
sometimes admitting the serious, and even the pathetic. 

6. The Roman tragedy kept pace in its advancement with the 
comedy. The best of the Roman tragic poets were Actius and 
Pacuvius, of whom we have no remains. I'he tragedies published 
under the name of Seneca are generally esteemed the work of dif- 
ferent hands. They are none of them of superlative merit. 

7. Velleius Paterculus remarks, that the ara of the perfection 
of Roman literature was the age of Cicero, comprehending all the 
literary men of the preceding times whom Cicero might have seen, 
and all those of the succeeding who might have seen him. Ciceio, 
■Quintilian, and Pliny celebrate, in high terms, the writings of the 
eliler Cato, whose principal works were historical, and have entirely 
perished. 'We have his fragments, de Re Riistica {on agriculture)^ in 
which he was imitated by V^arro, one of the earliest of the good 
witers among the Romans, and a man of universal erudition. Of 
tlie variety of his talents wc may judge, not only from the splendid 
eulogium of Cicero, but from the circumstance of Pliny having re- 
course to his authority in every book of his Natural History. 

8. Sallust, in order of time, comes next to Varro. This writer 
introduced an inportant improvement on history, as treated by the 
Greek historians, by applying (as Dionysius ot Halicarnassus says) 



ANCIENT HISTORY. 75 

the science of philosophy to the <tiu!y of facts. Sn!hi?t is therefore 
to be c«)nsi(lere(l ;t? t!:o liither of pliimscj iijc Isislei y : a species oi 
writing wliich has '.ic.en i=o successfuiiy riiitivHtc I ii! n!<u!ei!i lirms.. 
fJe is an adiniraliie wrjler f(;r the matter ol" his c(ni| i sitims, which 
evince grv>at judfrncnl and knowledge of huri-aii natDre, l,i;t 1 y no 
means c< iiiniciidalile ior his style and manner ut' i\ 1 i;ing. i le ;;ii<>( i? 
singnlarily of exprcssioii, an antiquated phr;:seoiogy. and a j c'lilaiit 
hreviiy and sentcntiouMiLS-;. \v!:ich has nothing of tliO digrJly if il.e 
historical slyie. 

9. Caesar has much more jnirity f f style, and more correctness 
tnd sinii'licity of expression; l;u; iiis Cuv.mentaries, uanling that 
amp.iitude oi' diction and tulness of illustration which is essential to 
history, are rather of the nature of annals. 

lU. In all the requisites of a histnian, Livv stands unrivalled 
among the Remans; possessing crnsumnuiie jitlgmotil i:i il.e selec- 
tion of ficts, perspicuity of arrangement, ^ag;;( i'i;s n Ik'cliii:, » i.nd 
views of policy, w,th the most coniouB, pane, and eicqii^iit ex; res- 
sion. It has been objected, that his speeciies derrgate ticm tlie 
truth of history : but this was a prevalent taste with tlie ancient 
writers; and as those speeches are always known to be the ccni{ o- 
sition of the historian, the reader is not misled. As to the siyie of 
l.ivy, though in general excellent, we scmetimes perceive in it, and 
most commonly in the speeches, an afiectatien of the pointed sen- 
tences (the vibrantes .mitaitioki:) and obsciniiy f i" the decliUrners, 
which evinces the pernicious intiuence acquired by these teachers 
at Rome sjnce the time oi Cicero and Sallusi. 

11. In the decline of Roman literature Tacitus is a historian of 
po common merit. He succe'sfully cultivated the method pointc' 
on by Sallust, of applying pliilosophy to history, in this I ' dis 
plays great knowled[:c"(4' iMinian nature, and penetrates, with lin- 
gular acuteness, inlo the secret springs of poiicy, and the jnotives 
of actions. But his fault is, tiiat he is too much of a poiilician, 
drawhig his character after the model oi" his own n-ind; ever as- 
signing actions and events to preconceived schem- and design, and 
allowing too little for the operatiou of accidenta-' causes, which often 
have the greatest inlluence on human affiii---- U'acitus, in his style, 
professedly imitated that of Sallust; adfplitig all the ancient ptiia- 
seology, as well as the new idioms jjitroduced into the Roman lan- 
guage by that writer. To his bre>ity and abruptness he added n;os« 
of the fiiults of the declaiming- school. His expression, therefore, 
though extremely forcible, is oi>en enigmatically obscure; the 
worst property that style can possess. 

12. Among the eminent Roman poets (after the dramatic^ Lucre- 
tius cleserves first to be noticed. He has great inequality, being at 
some times verbose, rugged, and pei-ploxed, and at other:? display itig 
all the elegance as well as the tire of poetj-y. This may be in great 
part attributed to his subject. Philosophical disquisition is unsuitable 
to poetry. It demands a dry precision of thouglit and expressjan, 
rejecting all excursive fancy and ornament of diction. That luxuri- 
ance of imagery, which is the soul of poetry, is raving and imper- 
tinence when iipplied to philosophy. 

13. Catullus, the contemporary of Lucretius, is the earliest of the 
Roman lyric poets. His Epigrams are pointed and satirical, but too 
licentious; his Idylla tender, natural, and picturesque. He llouiished 
in the age of Julius Caesar. 

14. la the succeeding age of Augustus, poetry «\ttained to its Ijjgh- 

G 1^ 



74 ANCIENT FIISTORY. 

eM elovi.tion among the Romans. Virgil, Horace, Ovid,' and Tibul- 

liis, \V(M'L' a!i contem.porarie?. Virgil is allowed the saaio rank among 
tiie lioman poetp, as HomtT among the Greek. !f I Ininer exec! 
Virj;;ii in the sublinio, the Isitlcr surpasses the ibniier in tke tender 
and cloijant. The transccnrlent merits of Homer are suilieil !)y oc- 
casional defects. Virgil is the model of a correct taste. The dif- 
ference of manner in the Bucolics, the Georgic^, and the .^^neid, 
shou-s that Virgil was capable of excelling in various departments of 
poelrv ; and such is the opinion of Martial, who atlirms that IjC 
could'have surpassed Horace in lyric poetry, and Varins in ti'agodv. 

15. Hor.ico excels as a lyric poet, a satirist, and a crilic. In his 
odes there is more variety than in those of cither Anacrcon or 
Pinilar. He can :dternately display the sublimity of the latter, and 
the jocose vein of the former. His Satires have' that chnracterisiic 
slyness and obliquity of censure, associated with humour and pleas- 
antry, which strongly distinguish them from the stern and cutting 
sarcasm of Juvenal. As a critic, his rules are taken cliielly Irom 
Aristotle ; but they contain the elements of a just taste in ,poetjcal 
composition, and therefore do not admit of variation.^ The Satires 
of Juvenal, compared \vith those of Hoi-acc, arc deficient in liire- 
tiousnessand urbanity ; but they are superior in acuteness of tlicuglit, 
and in manly vigor of sentiment. 

16. in variety of talent, williout supreme excellence, and in ease 
and elegance ot' numbers, no llonsan poet has exceeded Ovid. In 
iiis Metamorphoses, particularly, with great fancy, we have speci- 
mens of the pathetic, the descriptive, the eloquent, and even the 
sublime. His Elegies h;^vc more of nature and of real passion, 
thun those of either Tibnllus or Propertius. His amatory verses 
luwe much tenderness, but are too frequently loose, auil even grossly 
Hcemious. 

17. Thore is nothing more elegant than the compositions of 'I'i- 
bullus, noth'wg more delicate than the turn of his expression ; ])\:l 
it is not the language of passion. The sentiments are tender, bi;t 
their power of attV,ting the heart is weakened by the visible care 
and solicitude of the poet for rclined phraseology and polished num- 
bers; nor is there either niuch fancy or variety of thought. A siii* 
gle elegy exhibits the sentiments of the whole. 

IS. Martial is the last of tha^ Poman poets ivho can be mentioned 
with high approbation. His Epigr.\nis, independent of their art •xnd 
in^fenuity, are valuable, as throwing light upon the Roman manners. 
He possesses, above every otlier poet, a naivete of expression, 
which is chiefly observable in his serious epigrams. He is well char- 
acterized by the younger Pliny. Iiigc.niosus. acti\ ct qui in scriljcndod 
sa'.is huberct clfcllts, n'ec candoris iiliniis. - Epist. 3. 21. His zvritings are 
ingenious ond'ucnU ; they possess humnur aiid satire, and an less candain. 
'l9. Luxuriance of ornament, and the fondness for jioints, and b'd- 
liancy of thought and expression, are certain indications of the ce- 
ciine of good taste. Those characters strongly mark the Laiia 
poets of the succeeding ages. Lucan iias some scattered examples 
of genuine poetic imagery, and Pcrsius some happy_ strokes of aiii- 
nia tod satire ; but they scarcely compensate the affected cbscin-ity 
of one, and the bombast of the other. The succeeding poets, Statins, 
Silius Italicus, .and Valerius Fla.ccus, in their attempts at the ninst 
difficult of all species of poetry the epic, have only more signally 
displayed the inferiority of thei ' genius, and the manifest decay of 
the art. 



ANCIENT HISTORY. 76 

SECTION XXXVII. 
STATE OF PHILOSOPHY AMONG THE ROMANS. 

1. TiiK Roman?, in the earlier periods cA' tlie republic, hiul little 
leisure , to i)e.-tcw on the cukiviition of the sciences, nr.d ii;iil no iiieo 
oi' |>iiiio*ophicaI specnlalion. ^ It w;',.* not till the end of the sixth 
century Irom the l>niiding ol' the. city, 'and in the interval between 
the wuv with I'erseus and the third Punic war, that philosopliy made 
il-i (ir.-l .ippearance al nmie. A O'w loarnod AchcEans, banished 
(rnui tiioii- ciiiintry, liar! sr-tdod in various parts of Italy, and apply- 
nig tiionis,?!v(>s to the ruiiivadcn r!' iitoraiure and the education 
of yoiil]-!, (iiilii^ed a iaslc lor tliose sludii's hitherto unknown to the 
Kouiaus. Tiic elder citizens regarded those pursuits with an unfa- 
voaralde eye. .Jeainns of the introduction of Ibreign manners with 
foroij^ir sludies, tiie senate banished the Greek philosophers from 
Komi', iiut an Athenian embassy, arriving soon after, brought 
t!iithcrCarnL>adesand Crilolaus, who revived the taste for the Greek 
pnilosoplu - an;l it'ft behind them many able disciples, who publicly 
iaught their doctrines. 

2. It was natural that those systems should be most generally 
adopted which were must suitable to the national character. While 
the nuin'^ers of the Romans had a thiclure of ancient severity, the 
stoical system j)reva!led. Scipio, Laeliiis, and the younger Cato rauk 
among ils cl;iel' partisan*. 

:'.. The p!iiioso[)hy of Aristotle was little known in Rome till the 
age ot Cicero. At that lime Cratippus and Tyrannion taught his 
system with great reputation. Yet Cicero complains that the peri- 
))alelic p>hiioso[)hy was little ruiderstood a.t Rome; and therefore, he 
sent his sou to study its doctrines in the schools of Athens. 

4. Luculhi*, vhose slay in Greece gave him an opportunity ot 
Iieiug accjuainted \vith ail the dillerent sects, disseminated, on his 
n-turn to Rome, a very general taste lor philosophy. His patronage 
of learned men, and his liheraiity in allowing his library to be open 
for the public use, contributed greatly to the promotion of litera- 
ture. 

."). The Old and New Academy had each its partisans. Of the 
former, wliich may be termed the Stoico-Platonic, the most illus- 
trious disciples were Marcus Brutus and Terentius Varro. To the 
piiilosop.hical talents of Brutus, and the universal erudition of Varro, 
iiie writings of Cicero bear ample testimonj". Cicero himself must 
in; deemed the most eminent ot ail the Roman philosophers. He is 
cla--ed among the principal supporters of the New Academy ; 
though it seems to have been his purpose to elucidate the Greek 
j.liilosophy in general, rather than to rank himself among the disci- 
pk'S oi" any j;articular sect. 

(5. Thecullivation of physics, or natural philosophy, seeras to 
have been little attended to either by the Greeks or Romans. Un- 
. less agriculture should be classed under this description, we know 
of no Koman authors, except Varro and the elder Pliny, who seem 
to have bestowed much attention on the operations of nature. The 
works of Varro h;u c perished, except a few fragments. The Nat- 
ural flistory of l^hny is a most valuable store-house of the knowl- 
ftdge of the ancients in physics, economics, and the arts and sciences. 



76 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

It is to be regretted that the style is unsuitable to the matter, bring 

too I'uMjuentlv Horid, declanialory, and oliscure. 

7. 'i'lu- pli'iiosopliy ol" b^ucurus was unknown in the early age* 
of llu.' lioinan conmionweaitii. It was introduced with luxury, and 
kept pace in lis advancement with the corruplion ol" manners. Cin- 
neas havin» discoursed on the tenets of Epicurus at the table oi 
Pyrrhus, l-abricius exciaimeti, "May the enemies of Rome ever 
entertain such principles!" Yet these principles were, in a short 
tiirie trom that period, too current among the ciiizens of Rome. 



SECTION XXXVIII. 

OF THE PUBLIC AND TRIVATE MANNERS OF THE ROMANS. 

1. The manners of the Romans in the early ages of the republic 
were so ditlluent iVom those of the latter tmies, that one should be 
led to suppose some very extraonlinary causes to have co-operated 
to produce so remarkable a change ; yet the transition is easy to be 
accounted for. A spirit of temperance, of trugaiity, and prol>ity, is 
the characteristic of every infant establishment. A virtuous simpli- 
city of manners, and a rigour of n)iiitary discipline, paved the way 
for the extension of the Roman arms, and for their prodigious con- 
quests. These conquest introduced wealth, luxury, and corruption. 

2. hi the early times of the rvipublic the patricians, when in the 
country, iorgot tiie distinction of ranks, and labo'jred in the cultiva- 
tion of their fields, like the meanest p!ebei;uis. VVe'have the exam- 
ples of Cincinnatus, Cnrius, the elder Cato, and Scipio Africanus. 
The town was visited only every ninth tl.iy, which was the market 
day. hi those times of virtuous simplicity, says Sallust, IJoini mtli- 
ti'tqiie boni mores colebaiu'ur. Duabns arUhus^ miducia iti bello^ ubi pax 
eveiierat, a:quUute, scqae rcinque pnbtimtn ciirabayU. Uood inaimem were 
cuUivatcd both in peace and war. By tii-o incans^ valour tn itar, and 
equity in peace, they supported themselves and the coinmotiwealth. But 
when the Romans had extended their domhiion, in consequence of this 
very discipline and these manners, they imported with the wealth of 
the conquered nations their tastes, thefr manners, and thci" vices. 

3. The Romans hail no natural taste in tiie jhie arts. On the con- 
quest of Greece an immense tield opened at once to their eyes, -^mi 
the maslci-pieces ol' art poured in upon them in abundance. But 
they could not appreciate their excellences. The Roman luxury, as 
tar 'as the arts were concerned, was in general dis]>!ayed in an 
awkward, heavy, and tasteless magnilicence. 

4. The puMic and private life of the Romans v.-iil be best eluci- 
Jnted by a short ;iccount of the manner in wbicli the day was pass- 
ed at Rome, both, by the higher and lovv'er ranks of the {)eople. 
By a part oi the citi/.ens t!ie morning hours were spent in \i-rdiig 
liie temples, by otliei's in atlendi.Jg the levees ol" the gieal. The 
Menlcs (^clients) waited on their patroni (patrons) ; tiie patricians 
visited ne anotnei', or paid their compiiments to toe leaders of the 
re]>ub!ic. Wopularity was always the lirst olject ol" ambiti<in at 
Horn.', as puving the'way to ad advancement. !■ rem the levee they 
proix-eded to tiij lonnn, t-itlie;' to assist in tir; public business, or fir 
amuseiaenl. There the time vviis spent till nuon, which was llie 
hour of dinner among the jiomans. Tills was chielly a \ery hgiit 
repast, of which it was not customary to invite any guests to partake. 



ANCIENT UrSTOIiV. 77 

After dinner <he youth rentiired to the Campus Martius, where Ihey 
orcuj.ied Ihomselvc?! in athletic exercises and sports lill sunset. The 
elder rlass r<;tired for an hour to repose, and then passed the after- 
noon in their porticoes, galleries or libraries, where they enjoyed the 
conversation of their fiiends. or heard recitations of literary works; 
of hers repaired to the theatres, or to The shows of the circus and 
amphitheatre. 

5. Combats of gladiators were introduced for the tirst time about 
the 400th year of the city. Tiiese and combats with wild beasts soon 
beciune a favourite amusement among the Romans. The spirit of 
luxury, which in general is not unfavourable to hemanity, showed its 
progress among tlie Romans by an increasing ferocity and inhumanity 
of tlie public spectacles. Tiicatrical entertainments were in high 
request. (Sect. XXXVI, § 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.) The taste for pantomime 
came to such a height, tliat the art was taught in public schools, and 
the nol.iiity and people were divided into" parties in iiivour of the 
rival performers: an abuse which called at length for the interposi- 
tion oi' the laws. 

t). From the porticoes, or from the theatre and amphitheatre, it was 
customary to go to the baths, of which there Avere many ibr the use 
of the public. The rich had baths in their own houses, vying with 
each other in this as in every other article of luxury or magnilicence. 
From the bath they went immediately to supper, generally about the 
ninth or tenth hour, counting from s-unrise. At table they reclined 
on couches. Tlic luxury of the Roman suppers far exceeded every 
tiling known among the mocerns. An unteccenimii of pickles and 
sj/ices was presented to prepare and sharpen the appetite. Cook- 
ery became a science. The number and costliness ot the dishes 
were incredible. The entertainment was heightened by every thing 
giatifying to the senses; by male and female dancers, musicians, 
pantoirnimes, and even shows ot" gladiators. 

7. In ihe end of the republic pleasure and amusement were the 
darling ol ject of all ranks of the citizens: thev sought no more than 
paneia et circcnses [bread and games in die circjis). 



SECTION XXXIX. 

OF THE ART OF VvAR AMONG THE ROMANS. 

I. FnoM the prodigiou? success which attended the arms of tne 
lionians, and the dominion which they acquired over the greater 
part of the kno^vn ivorld, it seems a njUural inference that they must 
have excelled ;:ii the contemporary nations in the military art. Vege- 
!)(!■> expressly assigns their extensive conquests to that cause alone. 
il is the discipline of an army that makes a multitude act as one man. 
li likewise increases the courage of troops; for each individual con- 
tides in the steady co-operation of Ids fellows. 

2.'Frcm the constant practice of athletic exercises,Uhe Romans 
were inured from inlancy to hardiness and iatigue, and 'bred to that 
species of lifr, which a soldier leads in the most active campaign in 
the tielil. 

3. The levies were made annually, by ihe tribes called out, and 

divided into their respective number of centuries; each century pre- 

peniing by rotr.lion, as many soldiers as there were legions intended 

to be raised; and the tribunes of the several legions taking their turn 

G2 



78 ANCIENT HISTOIIY. 

Ify rotation in the selection of" the men presented by the centuries 
(Sect. XXIV, § 16.) The number of soldiers in the legion was vaii- 
ous ;it (litYe-retit periods, (rem 3,000 to 10,000 ur.d i 1 ,000. \ 

'4. Among the ancient nations there were usually two dilT.^roni 
Bi r.mgemeiits of the troops in order of battle. One the phalanx, 
or close ai'rangement in a rectangular form, intersected otUj uy 
great divisions ; a disposition commonly used by the Greeks, and 
by most of the barbaroiis nations. The other t!ie quincunx or 
chequer, consisting of small companies or platoons, disposed in thret; 
straight lines, with alternate spaces between the companies equal 
U> the space occupied by e;ich company. In the hrst line were t!io 
luiitati, in the second the jiriricipcs^ and in the llurd the truiru. On 
tiie tlanks of the lirst line were the cavalry, in dttaohed companies; 
and in front of the line were the velites, or light-armed troops, who 
usually began with a skirmishing attack, and tiien were withdrawn, lo 
make way tor the main body to come i!>lo action. The advantages 
of this arrangement we-re, that the line of battle could be three 
times formed with fresh troops, and tiiat it was mors adaptet' than 
any other for rapid changes of movement. In tiie Roman legion, 
the arms of the hastalimvA principes were the pilum or heavy jave- 
lin, and the sword and bnckler; and of tlie ^/■iam, the long' spear, 
with the sword and buckler. 

5. Notwithstanding these advantages the quincunx went into disuse 
toward the end of the republic, and from that lime various arrange- 
ments of the legion were used according to circnmstances. The 
Roman tactics are snpposed to liaye b-^,en at their greatest pitch of 
excellence duiing the Punic wars. Hannibal was a great master cf 
the science of tactics ; and the Romans profited by the experience 
of his ability. The battle of Canna;, as doscrihed by l-'olybius, 
affords signal evidence of tlie great talents of the Carlhagiui ni gen- 
eral. The descriptiovi of that battle has been misrepresented by 
Folard ; but it is accural^ly explained in the JMemoires Mititoircs of 
M. Guischardt. If the qmacimx disposition had been kept by the 
Rom ui army in that engagement, the event mizht have been very 
dilT.M-ent; tor it wovild have disappointed the e tie '^t of an artlid 
manjeuvre plarmed by llanr.ibal, on observing his enemy's army 
arranged in the unusual order of the phalanx. 

G. The art of iatrenchment was carried to perfection by the Ro- 
mans, particularly by Julias Caesar. With tj0,000 men he defended 
himself in his intrenchments before Alexia, while the lines of cir 
cumvallation were attacked by 2 10,000 Gauls, and the lines oi'counter- 
vallation by 80,000, without elFect. These intrenchinp.nts consi.-.\oJ 
of a ditch from nine to tifteen^eet in depth and width, fenced on the 
inside by the mound of excavated earth, and on the outside by btrong 
stakes with pointed branches. 

7. In besieging a town several camps were formed round (he 
place, joined to one another by lines of circumvallaMOii and coun- 
tcrvallation. A mound of earth {agger) was rai^etl, beginning by a 
gentle slope from one of the camps, and gradually rising in elevation 
as it approached the city. The front, wdiere the workmen were 
employed, was defended by a curtain of hides tlxed on strong posts. 
On this mound the engines of attack, catapdue. and balistue^ were 
advanced, (ill they playea on the very spot which the besiegers wish- 
ed to assail. The (uiapiiUiM discharged heavy stones, the bulijta 
arrows. The same machines weve used by the besieged for annoy- 
ing the enemy. When the engines on the terrace had driven the 



ANCIENT HISTORY. V 

bfisjegcil from the walls, the battering-ram {aries) was then brought 
up uiuier a pent-house {tcstudo) ; and, if it once reached the wall, was 
generally decisive of the tiitc of the town. 1 he main object ci llie 
besieged was therefore to prevent its approach by every jc wer of 
annoyance. Stones, darts, and combustible matters were crntiimally 
launcfied upon the assailants ; and sometimes a mine was dug lV( m 
the city to scoop away the terrace and all its engines. Thr^se arts 
of attack and delVnce of fortitied places were in general use among 
the nations of antiquity, and continued down to modern times, till the 
mvention of" gunpowder. 

8. The naval military art was utterly unknown among the Ho- 
mans till the tii-st fvmic war. i A Carthaginian ga.ljy was the lirst 
model of a vessel of war. In the space of two months they equipped 
a fleet of 100 galiies of five banks of oars, and 20 of tlirce Latiks. 
The structure of" those gailies, and the mode of arranging t|^ low- 
ers, may be learnec! from the ancient scuiptuics and medals. The 
combatants at sea assailed at a distance with javelins, missile c( m- 
bustibles, and sometimes with atutpulice and butisHe; l>nt the serious 
attack was made in boirding, when tlic vessels were grappled L j 
means of a crane let down from the i>i-ow. 

9. In the times of the cni| ire, the Konians mrintained their distanl 
conquests, not only by tlieir armies, out by their Heets. The; ships 
wore moored in the large rivers and bays ; and both the legions and 
the deets generally preserved a fixed station. 



SECTION XL. 

REFLECTIONS ARISING FROM A \1EW OF THE ROMAN HIS 
TORY DURING THE COMMONW EAJ/IH. 

1. The history of all naiions evinces, that there is an inseparable 
connexion between the morals of a people and 'Ik ir political pros- 
perity. But we have no stronger don;on-tiaiit n of this truth tl.an 
the annals of the Roman commonwealth. T(» .iniit to rcjMibiics alone 
the necessity of virtue as a prhiciple, is a chimerical notion, fraught 
with dangerous consequences, (^uul legrx sine )iiorihi(s zanit' prrjlci- 
mil ? {laws withmd morals axail notliing) is a sentir.ient < qe.ally a} jili- 
cable to all gfivernments ; and nc^political system, l.owe\ or excellent 
its rahiir, can possess any measure of duration, Avill.out th;it i < wer- 
iul cejnent, virtue, in the'principles and maiy^rs of the people. (Sect. 
XIX, §4.) ^ 

2. The love of our country, and the desire for its rafirnal lilerly, 
are noble and virtuous feelings; and their pr. x^aciicf is ever a lest 
of the integrity of the national morals. Eut i;i. U:v\i\ h;,s been um re 

tMoslittited than the won! liberty. In a corruplod j ooj-ie the cry for 
ibcjty is heard the loudest among the most proliigate of iho rcnimu- 
nily. With these its meaning has no relation to latrictism ; it im- 
ports no more than tho aversion to restraint ; and the jiersourd char- 
acter of the ttemagogue, and tlie private morals of bis disciples, are 
alu-ays sultlcient lo uninask the counterfeit. The s| irit o|" patriot- 
ism and a general con-uption of manners cannot possibiy be coexis- 
tent in the same age and imiiun. 

3. On the other hand, while the morals of a people are pure, no 
public misfortune is irroiri.jvable, ixor any political siniation so des- 
perate, that hope may not remain of a liwourable change. In such 
Mtuations the spirit of patriotism pervading all ranks of the state will 



GO ANClKNTHiSTOia'. 

soon rpf'mcr tho national prosperity. The history of the Roman peo 
pie, a(»:I that of the (irecian slates, in various crises, both of hononr 
uaii ol disgrace, alTords proofs alike oi'tliis position and of its convers«». 

4. The national character of t!ie Ivomans seems to have under- 
gone its most renru'kablc c!)a.nge lor the worse iVom tiie time cl'liie 
di'struclion oi' their rival, Carthage*; Salhist asMgns the cause. Jme 
i\irtIuto-ii}cj)i iL'lclaiii.— — uielns ho-slit'ts in hoiiisariibus chntaUm ritiitebat. 
Sp.(1 obi illii furmido inc.ntihns decessil, scilicci ca qiue aec-diului res aiiumt, 
l:t.-ici\ ia a'q-.ie superbiu invaserc. Before ihe, dcslri'clioii qfCnrlhagi\—m — 
iftej'cur I'f their caciuy kept lite pc.jpls in the practice (f virtue ; but xi-lien 
liic rejTraiiU 'fj'eur ceased to injiuence their conduct^ t key abandoned thein' 
selves to pnifiigacif and arrogance^ the nsnui amcoinitants (yf prosperity. 

b. In the liffet ages ot" the commonwealth, avarice and ainljilion, 
unrcstiaiiied by moral principle, wero tiie chief motives of the Ko- 
min con j^jFits. It was suthcient re;iSon for going to war, tliat a 
r.oun^' offered a tempting object lo the r.ipacity and ambilion of 
the military leaders. The conquest of Italy paved the way for the 
reduction of foreign nations. Hence the Romans imported, with their 
("wealth, the manners,^ the luxuries, and the vires of the nations which 
' they subdued. I The generals returned not as formerly, after a suc- 
cessful war, t6 the labours of the lield, and to a life of temperance 
and industry. They were now the governors of kingdoms and prov- 
inces; and at the period of their command abroad, disdaining the 
restraints of a sunject, tliey could be satistied with nothing less^ than 
sovereignty at home. The armies, debauched by the plunder of 
kingdoms, w"ere completely disposed to support them in all their 
schemes of ambition; and me populace, v, on by corruption, always 
took part with tho chief who best couki pay for tiieir lavonr ana 
support. J'orce or bribery overnded every election ; and the in- 
habitants of distant states, now holding the right of citizens, were 
brought to Rome, at the command of the demagogue, to influence 
any popular contest, and turn tne scale in his favour. In a govern- 
ment thus irretrievably destroyed by the decay of those springs 
which supported it, it was of httle consecjuence by what particular 
tyrant, usurper, or demagogue, iis ruin was iinally accomplished. 

6. From ^i consideration of the rise and iidl of the principal states 
of antiquity, it has been a commonly received opinion, that the con- 
stitution of empires has, like theiinman body, u period of growth, ' 
matui-ity, decline, and extinction. But arguments from anahgy are 
fxtrenii'ly deceitful, and particularly so when the analogy is \vom 
physical to moral ti utlf^ The hum'm body is, from its fibric, natu- 
raijy subjoct to decay, and is penietually undei-going a change from 
tiaii. Its organs, at first weWc, attain gradually tiieir perfect 
strength, and thenc?, by a similar grada.tion, proceed to decay and 
dissolution. This is an immutable bnvot its nature. But the springs 
of the body politic do not necessarily undergo a perpetual change 
from time. It is not regularly progi-essive from weakness to sliwigth, 
and (hence to decay and dissolution; nor is it under tlie inlha^ico 
of any principle of corruption which m ly not be checked, and ewn 
cradicaled, by wholesome laws. Thus the beginning of the rc.r- 
ruption of Sparta is attributed to Lysander's breach of the institu- 
tions of Lycurgus, in introducing gold inK> the treasury o*" the sti.te 
instead of its iron money. But \vas tJiis a necessary, or an unavoid- 
able measure ? Perhaps a single vote in the senate decreed its adcp- 
tion, and therefore anothei- suffrage might have prevented, or long 
postponed, the downlid oi the commonwealth. The Ronian repub- 



ANCIENT HISTORY. 81 

lie owed its dissolution to the extension of its dominions. If it had 
been n capita! crime for nny Roman citizen to liave proposed to 
carry the arms of tiie I'epublic beyond the limits of Italy, its consti- 
li'tion tnij2;ht have been preserved ("or many ages Ijeyond the period 
<.)'' its actual duration. "• Accustom your mmd," said Phocion to 
/'.rislias, "• to discern, iii the tlite of nations, that recompense which 
the great Author ot' nature has annexed to the practice of virtue. 
No state ever ceased to be prosperous, but in consequence ot having 
departed from those institutions to which she owed her prosperity.'^ 
History indeed has shown that all states and empires have had their 

f)eriod of duration; but history, instructing us in the canses which 
lave produced their decline and fall, inculcates alsc^^^^alutary 
lesson, that nations are in general the masters of thei^^^^^stin^ 
and that they may, and most certainly ought to, aspire^^B^BtaliJp 
7. It was a great dcsidewliun in ancient politics, that a go\^^»tykit 
shouht possess within itself the power of periodical reforniWTO.; a 
capacity of checking ^nj overgrowth of^ authority in any of its 
branches, and of winding up the machine, or bringing back the con- 
stitution to its tirst principles. To the want of such a power in the 
states of antiquity (which they inefi'ectually endeavoured to supply 
by such partial contrivances as the ostracism and petalism) we may 
certainly ascribe, in no small degree, the decay of those states ; ibr 
in their governments, when the balance was once destroyed, the 
evil grew worse from day to day, and admitted no remedy but a 
revolution, or entire change of the system. The British constitu- 
tion possesses this inestimable advantage over all the governments 
both of ancient and modern tinj||, with the shigle exception of the 
government of the United State^of America. Besides the perpetua. 
|K>wer of reform vested in parliament, the constitution may be puri- 
fied of every abuse, and brought back to its tirst principles, at the 
commencement of every reign. But of this we shall afterwards 
treat in its proper place. 



SECTION XLl. 

ROME UNDER THE EMPERORS. 

1. The battle of'Actium ISec^^Kie fatg of the commonwealth, 
and Octavius, now named Au^Buis, was^master of the Roman 



empire. He possessed complefi^^he Sii^Rty of discerning what 
character was best fitted for ga^M*(hj^fl'ections of the people 
whom he governed, and the versf^J^^W temper and genius to as- 
sume it. His virtues, though tiie result of policy, not of nature, were 
'^^rlainly tiivourable to the happiness, and even to the liberties of 
l.i> su! jects. The fate of Caesar warned him of the insecurity of a 
UM.rped dominion; and therelbre, while he studiously imitated the 
on paging manners and clemency of his great predecessor, he affect- 
"il a much higher degree of moderation, and respect for the rights of 
'.h ' pfople. ^ 

t The temple of Janus\was shut, which nad been open for 188 
\ p irs, since the beginning of the second Punic w ar ; an event pro- 
(lii.-,t)ve of univei'sal joy. "The Romans fsays Condillac) now be- 
lieved themselves a iiee people, since they had no longer to fight for 
ih 4r liberty." The sovereign kept up this delusion, by maintaining 
the ancient forms of the republican constitution, in the election ol 

11 



82 ANCIENT lilSTOllY. 

magistrates, &c., though they were nothing more than iorms. He 
even pretenflad to consider his oini function as merely a temporary 
administration for the public henelit. hivested with the con*ul;tte 
and ceasor.siiip, he went throu^ii tiic i-e^ular I'orms of periodical 
eleciion to thosj olHces, and at tha end of the seventh y ;ar oi" hia 
govanrnont aciu;dly annouiiced (o the senate his resignation of all 
aulhority". The coiiseqnance was a general supplication of Ihe ^5('n- 
ate and people, ihat he would not abandon the republic, wliicli lie 
Lad saved from destruction. '• Since it must be so," said he, " 1 accept 
the ef-'.p'rp forten >ears, unless the puMic Iranquillily shall, before 
the expiration ol thai lime, permit me to enjoy retirement, wliirh 
I p;'.S3ig^dv long for." 11 j repeated the satne mockery five times 
ill llia|^^H|<)f ids govenim3nt, accepting tha administration sonu- 

%un^^^PP^ind sometimes only for live years. 

^■^^^W^much to the credit of AugusJ.us, that in the government 
of^l^empire he reposed unlimited conlSJence in MeCcEuas, a most 
able minisler, w!io hail sincerely at heart^'e interest and happiness 
of the people. By his excellent counsels ail public iiflfairs were con- 
ducted, and the most salutary laws enacted for tlie remedy of public 

- grievances, and even the correction of the morals of the people. 
'i'j his, patronage litenilure and the ai'ts owed their encouragement 
and ailvancement. JJy his inlluence and wise instructions Augustus 
assumed those virtues to which his iieart was a stranger, iuul 
which, in their tendency to the happiness of his subjoci;-: were 
equally elfictual as if they iiad been the genuine fruits of his nature. 

4. Un the death of jlarcelius, the nephew and son-in-law of Au- 
gustus, and a prince of great hopes. 23 A. C, the emperor bestowed 
Sis ciiief fivpur on Marcus Agrij^v g'^l'^g him his daughter .Julia. 
the widow of iVIarceilus, in mairiage. Agrippa had considerable 
military tdents, and AvassuccesstuI in accomplishing the rcdiiclioii of 
h'p.iin, and subduing the revolted provinces of Asia. Augustus as- 
eocitited Agrippa with himself in the olfice of censor, and would prob- 
ably have given him a share of the empire, if his deatn had not 
occasioned a new arrangement. .1 ulia now took for her third husbaiid 
Tibenus, who became the son-in-law of the emperor by a double 
tie, for Augustus had previously married his mother Livii. This 
artful woma'a, removing allot the impeiinl family v/ho stood betwixt 
lier and the oijject of her an^^jn, thus made room lor the succes- 
sion of her son ribeiiuj^ who^^^L p;#'t,bent all his attention to gain 
Die fivour anti confij^cc of .W^it/is. On the return of Tiberius 
from a successful cai^^^u a|j^A|*the Germans, the people were 
mdila to solicit the er^HFoyi^^Wlijr on him the government of the 
provinces and the cornii^wWpBe armies. Augustus now gniduaily 
»vilh draw himself from the cares of empire, lie died soon after at 
t\(i|a. iti Campania, in the (7i3th year of his, age, and the 44lIi of his 
imperial reigiT, A. U. C. 7137, and A. D. 14. 

5. .A considerable part of the lustra thrown on the reign of Augus- 
lu-i is ouiag to the splendid, colouring besluwed on his chanictc.r by 
the poets and other authors who adorned his court, and repaiil his 
ilivours by theiradul.itioa. Other sovereigns of much higher merili 
liuve been lass fortunate in obtaiiiing the applause of posterity. 

• — Illacryniabiles 

Urijueiitiir, iuiiolique, loii^a 

iSocle, caiLut quia vatc sHcro. HoR. Car. Lib. IV, 9. 
Unlameaied and luikmnvn they sink iato oblivion, because they have no 
utiwired bard to celebrate their praise. . ^^ 



ANCIENT fllSTORY. 83 

One great event distiuguished the reign of Augnstus, the birth of 
Dur Ldi-il anil Savioui- Jksls Chhist, v.iiich, according to liie beni 
auilio.-ities, happened A. U. C. 734, an;! lour years before tae vulgai 
:!ate of the chri!-tian aer.i.* . 

b. Aiigiistus had n;iini(r]'il)crin3/hi^ heir, together with las niolh- 
c" Livia ; and had substituted to iheni Dn-sus, ihe son oi' Tijcrius. 
:v^^ Gerinmicus. Tiberius was! vicious, debauclied, and crueij; ve> 
ih2 ver> dread of his character operated in securing an easy si:c- 
r.js-ion to the empire. An embassy from the senate entreated l.ini 
to nccopt th3 governmjn!:, which he modestly allected to decline, 
but sufi'jred himself to be won by their supplications. Nolwitlisiand- 
i.i;^ th;s„^ symptom^ of moderation, it soon appeared that the power 
enjoyed by his precL^cessor was too limited ibr the ambiiion of 'L"i- 
bei'ias. It was not enough that the substance of the republic was 
gone; the very appearance of it was now to be demolished. TiiP 
people were. n"o longer assembled, and the magistrates of the stiUe 
were supplied by the imperial will. 

G. Germ micus, the nephew of Tiberius, became the oljjcct of iiis 
jealousy, from the glory which he had acqifn-ed by his mj.itary ex- 
ploits in Germany, and "l!)e high favour in u hich he stood with the 
Ko-nan people, fie was recalled in the midst of his successes, ancl 
despatched to the oriental provinces, where he soon after died; and it 
- was generally believed that he \vas poisoned by the emperor's com- 
mand. 

7. ^lius Sejanus, prsefect of the pnEforian guards, the favourite 
counsellor of Tiberius, and the obsequious minister of his tyranny 
and c. lines, conceived the daring project of a revolution, \vl:ich 
should place himself on the tiirone, by the extermination ol" the whole 
imperial f imiiy. Drusus, the son of the emperor, was destroyed by 
poison. Agrippina, the widow of Gcrmanicus, with her elder son, 
was banished; and the younger son was coniined in prison. Tibe- 
rius \vas persuaded by Sejanus, under the pretence of the discovery 
oi" plots for his assiissination, to retire from Home to the Isle of 
Caprea;, and devolve, the government upon his fiithiul ir.inister. 
But while Sejanus, thus fir successful, meditated the last step to the 
accomplishment of his wishes, by the murder of bis sovereign, his 
treason was detected; and the emperor despatched his mandate to the 
senate, which was followed by his immediate sentence and execution. 
The public indignation was notsatistied with his death, the populace 
tore his body to pixes, and thing it into the Tiber. 

8. Tiheiius now became ulteriy negligent of the cares of govern- 
ment, an I tiie imperial power was displayed only in public execu- 
tions, couiiscations, and scenes of^ cruelty and rapine. At leiifflh the 
tyrant tailing sickfwas strangled m his bed by Macro, the pranect cf 
the praitorian guards, in tlie 78th year of his age, and the 23d of lu3 
reign. 

9. In the 18th year of Tiberius, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 
\he divine author of our religion, suflered death upon the cr£>ss, a 
sacri.ice and propitiation tor tlie sins of mankind, A. D. 'So. 

10. Tiberius had nomiaated for las heir,!' Caligula the son of Ger- 
manicrs, hi^ grandson by adoption; and had joined uith him I'iiie* 
lin- tlie son ofDrusus, hi^ grandson by blood. 'J'ne foi-mer enjoyed, 
on liii faiiier'a account, tiie favour of the people ; and the seniile, to 

■"'' See Dr. Play fair's Systeai of Clirouology, p. 49, 50, a work of great 
«s€arch aud acc:iracy, and by fnr tl-^ best on that subject. 



84 ANCIKINT HISTOKY. 

f;ra(ify them, set nside the rigjlit of his colleague, and conferred on 
lim llie empire undivided. 'Viie commencement of his reign was 
signali/ed by a few ;>cts of clemency, and even good policy. He 
restored the'privileges of the comitia, and abolished arbitraiy prose- 
cutions for crimes of 8tate. But,' tyrannical and cruel by nature, he 
substituted military exccntien for legal punishment. The provinces 
were loaded with the most oi)pressive taxes, and daily confiscations 
filled the imj.ei'ial cotiers. '1 he follies and absurdities of Caligula 
were equal to his viceSj and it is hard to say whether he was most the 
object of hatred or ot contempt to Ins subjects. He perished by 
assassination ;in the fourth year of his reign, the twenty-ninth of his 
age. A. U. C. 794, A. J). 42. 

11. Claudius, the uncle of Caligula, was saluted emperor by the 
praetorian guards, who had been the murderers of his nephew. He 
was the son of Octavia, the sister of Augustus; a man of weak in- 
tellects, and of no education. His short reign Avas marked by an 
enieri>rise of importance. He undertook the reduction of Britain, 
and after visiting the island in person, left his generals, Piautius and 
V^espasian, to prosecute a war which was carried on forseveial years 
with various success. The Silures or inhabitants of South VVaies, 
under their king Caractacus (Caradoc), made a brave resistance, but 
were finally defeated; and Caractacus was led captive to Kcme, 
where the magnanimity of his demeanour procured him respect and 
admiration. 

12. The ci\il administration of Claudius was weak and contempt- 
ible. He was the slave even of his domestics, and the dupe of hi« in- 
famous wives Messalina and Agrippina. The ibrmei, abandc^ed to 
the most shameful profligacy, was at length but to death on suspi- 
cion of treasonable designs. The lather, who was the daughter oi 
Germanicus, bent her utmost endeavours to secure the succession (o 
the empire to her son Domitius Oenobardus, and employed every 
engine of vice and inhumanity to remove the obstacles to the accom- 
plishment of her wishes. Having at length prevailed on Claudius to 
adopt her son, and confer on him the title of Ca?sar, to the exclusion 
of bis own son Britannicus, she now made room for the immediate 
elevation of Domitius, by poisoning her husband. Claudius wiiP 
put to death in the 15th year of his reign, and the God of his age. 



SECTION XLII. 

1. The son of Agrippina assumed the title of Nero Claudius. He 
had enjoyed the beneht of a good education under the philosopher 
Seneca, but reaped IVom his instructions no other fruit than a pedan- 
tic affectation of taste and learning, with no real pretension to either. 
While controled by his tutor Seneca, and by Burrhus, captain of 
lUe praetorian guards, a man of worth and ability, Nero maintained 
for a short time a decency of public conduct; but the restraint was 
iniolerable, and nature soon broke out. His real character was a 
comjjound of every thing that is base and inhuman. In the murder 
of his mother Agrippina he revenged the crime wiiich she had 
committed in raising him t(, the throne ; he rewarded the fidelity 
oi Burrhu?, by poisoning him : and as a last kindness to his tutor 
Seneca, he alhwed him to choose the mode of his death.? It was his 
darling amusement to exhibit on the stage and amphitheatre as an 



ANCIENT mSTOK'/. td 

artor, musician, or gladiatoi. At length, become the object of 
universal hatred and contempt, a rebellion of 1m^; siibjev-.t?!, herlded by 
Vindex, an illustrious Gaul, hurled this monster from the throne, 
tie had not courage to attempt resistance; and a slave, at his vo^a 
request, despatched him with a dagger. Nero perished in the 30th 
jear of his age, after a reign of fourteen years, A. I). 69. 

2.[Galba,'the successor of Nero, was of an ancient and illustrious 
fumily. He was in the 73d year of his age when the senate, ratify- 
ing the choice of the praetorian bands, proclaimed him empeioi. 
But an impolitic rigour of discipline soon disgusted the anny ; the 
avarice of his disposition, grudging the populace their favourite 
games and spectacles, deprived him of their affections; and some 
iiiiciuitous prosecutions and confiscations excited general discontent 
and mutiny. Galba, adopted and designed for his successor the able 
and virtuous Piso; a measure which excited the jealousy of Otho, 
his former favourite, and led him to form the daring plan of raising 
[limself to the throne by the destruction of both. He found the 
praatorians apt to his purpose. They proclaimed him emperor, and 
presented him, as a grateful ofteriug, the lioads of Galba and riso. 
who were slain in quelling the insurrection. Galba had reigned 
seven months. Major privato visus^luin privatusfuit-^ ct omnium co'iv- 
seiisu cupax imperii, nisi imperasset. Tacitus. lie appeared to he greater 
ilian a private man, while he -was ia a privaic station, ; a»^ by the consent 
of all was capable of governing, if he had not governed- 

3. pthoihad a formidable rii'al m Viteliius, n'ho ha J been pro- 
claimed eniiperor by his army in Germany. It is hard to say which 
of the competitors was, in point of abilities, tiie more despicable, or 
in character the more infamous. A decisive battle was fought at 
Bedriacum, near Mantua, where Otb^ was defeated, and in a fit of 
di'spair ended his life by his own hand after a reign of three months, 
A. D. 70. , - ^ 

4. The reign of (Viteliius 'was of eight months' duration. Fie is 
said to have proposed Nero i'or his model, and it ^vas just that he 
should resemble him in his Me. Vespasian had obtained from Nero 
the charge of the war r>gainst the Jews, vrliich he had conducted 
with ability and success, and was proclaimed emperor by his troops 
iu the east. A great part of Italy submitted to ^/esiDo^ian's generals; 
and Viteliius nieanly capiailatcd to save his life, by a resignation of 
the empire. The peopie, indignant at his dastardly ^^pirit, compelled 
him to an effort of resistance ; but the attempt was fruitless. Priscu*. 
one of the gener-ils of ^''espasiaa, took possession of Rome ; and 
Viteliius was massacred, and his body flung into the Tiber. 

5. \ espasi-iu, though of mean descent, was worthy of the tmpire, 
and reigneJ with high popularlly for ten year;. Ho po-sossed groat 
clemency of disposition. His manners were affable and engaging, 
and bjs mode of life was characterized by .simplicity and frugality. 
lie respected the ancient forms of the constiiulicn, restored the sen- 
ate to its deliberative rights, and acted by its authority in the admin- 
istration of all public anaire. The only blemish in his character was 
a tincture of avarice, and even that is greatly extenuated by the 
laudable and patriotic use which he made of his revenues. Under 
his reign, and by the arms of his son Titus, was terminated the war 
against the Jews. They had been brought under the yoke of Rome 
by Pompey, who took Jerusalem. They were governed for some 
lime by Herod, as viceroy under Augustus. The tyranny of his son 
Archelaus was the cause of liis banishment, and ot the reduction of 



$6 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

Jw'aea into the ordinary condition of a Roman province. The Jews 
rel elled on every shght occasion, and Nero had sent Vespasian to 
re(mce them to order. He had just prepared for ^he siege of Jeru- ■ 
sal dm, when he was called to Rome to assume the government of the 
enpire. Titus wished to spare the city, and tried every means 
to jprevail on the Jews to surrender ; hut in vain. Their ruin was 
decreed hy Heaven. After an ohstinate hlockade of six months 
Jerusalem was taken by storm, the temple burnt to ashes, and the 
city buried in rums. The Roman empire was now in profound 
pf;ace. Vespasian associated Titus in the imperial dignity, and 
soon after died, universally lamented, at the age of sixty-nine, A. 
D. 79. 

6. The character of Titus was humane, munificent, dignified, and 
splendid. N His, short reigri was a period of great happiness and 
prosperity to the empire, and his government a constant example of 
virtue, justice, and beneficence. In his time happened that dreadful 
eruption of Vesuvius, which overwhelmed the cities of Herculaneum 
and Pompeii. The public losses from these calamities he rejiaired 
by the sacrifice of his fortune and revenues. He died in the third 
year of his reign, and fortieth of his age ; ever to be remembered 
by that most exalted epithet, deucvje. hiiinani generis {the delight of 
mankind). 

7. Domitian,lhe brother of Titun, was suspected of murdering him 
by poison, and succeeded to the empire, A. D. 81. He was a vicious 
and inhuman tyrant. A rebellion in Germany gave him occasion to 
signalize the barbarity of his disposition ; and its consequences were 
long felt in the sanguinary puRisiiments inflicted under the preteiTce 
of justice. The prodigal and voluptuous spirit of this reign was a 
lingular contrast to its tyranny and inhumanity. The people were 
loaded with insupportable taxes to furnisk spectacles and games for 
their amusement. The successes of Agricola in Britain (iirew a 
lustre on the Roman ;u'ms,no part of which reflected on the emperor, 
for he treated this eminent commaRder with the l;:fest ingratitude. 
After fifteen tedious years this monster lell at last the victim of assas- 
sination, the empress herself- conducting the plot for his murder, A 
D. 96. 

8. Cocceiusf]Nerva,f a Cretan by birth, Avas chosen emperor by the 
senate, from respect ' to the probity and virtues nf his character. 
He was too old for the burden of government, and of a temper too 
placid for the restraint of rooted corruptions wid enormities. His 
reign was weak, inefficient, and contemptible. Kis only"" act of real 
merit as a sovereign, was the adoption of the virtuov.'? Trajan as lus 
successor. Nerva died after a reign of sixteen monthb,A. D. 90. 

gXuipius Trajanus^ possessed every talent arid every virtue that 
can adorn a sovereign. Of great military abilities, and tin indefatiga- 
ble spirit of enterprise, he raised the Roman arms to their accicnt 
splendour, and greatly enlarged the boundaries of the empire, l^o 
subdued the Dacians, conquered the Parthians, and brought vuk]' r 
subjection Assyria, Mesopotamia, and Arabia Felix. Nor was liO i. -^ 
eminent in promoting the happiness of his subjects, and the iiiten:;ii 
prosperity of the empire. His largesses were humane and munia- 
cent. He was the friend and support of the virtuous indigent, ar,(! 
the liberal patron of every useful art and talent. His bounties were 
supplied by well judged economy in his private fortune, and a Vii^j 
administration of the public finances. In his own life he v. as a man 
ef simple manners, modest, affable, fond of the familiar iulcrcoui^^e 



AN UiLI\ T i li'o'lO iv Y . 87 

of his friends, and sensible to ail the social and benevolent affecfeons. 
He merited the surname universally bestowed on him, Trajanm 
Optimus. He died at the xge of sixty-three, after a glorious reign of 
nineteen years, A. JD. 118. 

lO.L^lius Adrianus.'.nephew of Trajan, and worthy to hll his place, 
was chosen emperor by tlie army in the east, and his title -was 
acknowledged by all orders of the state. He adopted a policy ditTer- 
ent from that of his predecessor. Judging the limits ot the empire 
too extensive, he abandoned all the conquests of Trajan bounding 
the eastern provinces by the Euphrates. He visited in person all the 
provinces of the empire, reforming in his progress all abusesi, telieA^- 
ing his subjects of every oppressive burden., rebuilding the ruined 
cities, and establish '.ng every where a regular and mild administra- 
tion, under magistrates of approved probity and humanity. He gave 
a discharge to the indigent debtors of the state, and appointed liberal 
institutions tor the eduqation of the children of the poor. To the 
talents of an able politician he joined an excellent taste in th^ liberal 
arts. His reign, which was of twenty-two years' duration, was an sera 
both of public happiness and splendour. In the last year of his life 
he bequeathed to the empire a double legacy, in adopting for his 
immediate successor Titus Aurelius Antoninus, <md substituiiiig An^ 
nius Verus to succeed iroon his death. These were the Antonines, 
tvho duringlforty years 'ruled the Roman empire with consummate 
wisdom, ability, and virtue. Adrian died A. I). 138,, at the age of 
sixty -two. 

SECTION XLIII 
AGE OF THE ANTONINES, &c. 

1. The happiest reigns furnish the fewest events for the pen of 
history. Antoninus was the father of his people. He preferred 
peace" to the ambition of conquest ; yet in every necessary war 
the Roman arms had their wonted renown. The British province 
w;'.s enlarged by tlie cnquests of Urbicus, and some formidable 
rebellions nere subdued in Germany, Dacia, and the east. The 
domestic administration of tae sovereign was dignified, splendid, and 
humane. With all the virtues of Numa, his love of religion, peace, 
and justice, he had the superior advantage of diffusing these blessings 
over a great portion of the world. He died at the age of seventy- 
four, after a reign of twenty-two years, A. D. 161. 

2. Annius Verus asr.umed, at his accession, the name of Marcus 
Aurelius Antoninus, and bestowed on jiis brother Lucius Verus a joint 
administration of the empire. The former was as eminent for the 
worth and virtues of his character, as the latter was remarkable for 
protligacy, meanness, and vice. Marcus Aurelius was attached both 
by nature and education to the Stoical philosophy, which he has ad- 
mirably taught and illustrated in his meditations. His own life ivas 
tiia best commentary on his precepts. The Parthians were repulsed 
in an attack upon the empire, and a rebellion of the Germans was 
subdued In these wars the mean and worthless Verus brought dis' 
grace upon the Roman name in every region where he commanded 
but foitanately relieved the empire of its fears by an early deatli. 
The residue of the reign of Marcus Aurelius was a continued bless- 
mg to his subjects. He reformed the internal policy of the stale, 
regulated the government of the provinces, and viaited himself, for 



68 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

the purposes of beneficence, the most distfint quarters of his domiii' 
ions. "He appeared," says an ancient author, "Jike some benevo- 
lent deity, diffusing around him universal peace and happiness." He 
died in rannonia, in the 59th year of his age, and 19th of his reign. 
A. D. 180. 

3. Commodus, his most unworthy son. succeeded to the empire 
on his death. He resembled in character his mother Faustina, a 
woman infamous for all manner of vice. Her profligacy was laiown 
to all but her husband Marcus, by whom she was regarded as a para- 
gon ol virtue. Commodus had an aversion to every rational and 
fiberal pursuit, and a fond attachment to the sports of the circus and 
amphitheatre, the. hunting of wild beasts, and the combats of boxers 
and gladiators. The measures of this reign were as unimportant as 
the character of the sovereign ^vsji contemptible. His concubine and 
some of his chief officers prevented their own destruction by assas- 
sinating the tyrant, in the 32d year of his age, and 13th of his 
reign, A. D. 193. 

- 4. The prailorian guards gave the empire to Publius Helvius 
Pertinax, a man of mean birth, who had risen to esteem by his vir- 
tues and military talents. He apphed himself with zeal to the cor- 
rection of abuses; but the austerity of his government deprived him 
of the aiiections of a corrupted people. lie had disappointed the 
army of a promised reward, and, after a reign of eighty-six days, 
was mvirdered in the imperial palace by the same hands which had 
(■.laced him on the ihrone. 

b. Tne empire was now put up to auction by the praetorians, and 
.u:! purchased by Didius Julianus; while Pescenius Niger in Asia, 
■ iodius Albinus in Britain, and Septimius Severus in IlJyria, were 
cich cbosen emperor by the troops which they commanded. Se- 
\orus marched to Rome, and, on his approach, the prgetorians aban- 
tlooed Didius, who had failed to pay the stipulated price lor his ele- 
\ ulion : and the senate formally deposed to put him to death. Seve- 
rus being now master of Rome, prepared to reduce the provinces 
u-bich had acknowledged the sovereignty of Niger and Albinus. 
These two rivals were successively subdued. Niger was slain in 
battie, and Albinus fell by his own hands. The administration of Se- 
verus was wise and equitable, but tinctured with despotic rigour. 
It was his purpose to erect the fabric of absolute monarchy, and ail 
his institutions operated with able policy to that end. He possessed 
eminent military talents. He gloriously boasted, that, having re- 
ceived the empire oppressed with foreign and domestic wai-s, he left 
it in profound, universal, and honourable peace. He carried with 
him into Britain his two sons, Caracalla aud Geta, whose unpromis- 
ing dispositions clouded his latter days. In tins war the Caledonians 
under Fingal are said to have defeated, on the banks of the Carron, 
Caracul^ the son of the king of the \-,Oild. Severus died at York, in 
ibe 66th year of his age, after a reign of eighteen years, A. D. 21 1. 

6. The mutual hatred of Caiacalla and Geta was increased by 
tlieir association in the empire ; and the former, with brutal inhu- 
manity, caused his bi'other to be openly murdered in the arms of his 
mother. His reign, ivhich was of six years' duration, and one con- 
tinued series of atrocities, was at length terminated by assassination. 
A D. 217. 

7., Those disorders in the. empire which began with Commodus 
continued for about a century,, till the accession of Diocletian. That 
iotei'val was tilled by the reigns of Hcliogabalus, Alexander Severus, 



AJNUIEKT iilSTOKY. 89 

Maiimin. Gordian, Dccitis, Gallus, Valerianus, Gallienus, Claudius, 
Aurelianus, Tacitus, Probus, and Carus ; a period of which the ao- 
nals furnish neither amusement nor useful information. The single 
exception is the reign of Alexander Severus, a mild, beneficent, and 
enlightened prince, whose character shhies the more from the con- 
trast of those who preceded and followed him. 

8. Diocletian began his reign A. 1). 284, and introduced a new 
system of administration, dividing the empire into four governments, 
under as many princes. Maximian shared with him the title of 
Augustus, and Galerius an^ Constantius were declared Caesars. Each 
had his separate department or province, all nominally supreme, but 
in reaUty under the direction of the su]3erior talents and authority of 
Diocletian : an unwise policy, which depentied for its efficacy on 
individual ability alone. Diocletian and Maximian, trusting to the 
continuance of that order in the empire which their vigour had 
established, retired from sovereignty, and left the government in the 
hands of the Cagsars; but Constantius died soon after in Britainj^and 
bis son Constantine was proclaimed emperor at York, though Gale- 
rius did not acknowledge his title. Maximian, however, having once 
more resumed the purple, bestowed on Constantine his daughter in 
marriage, and thus invested him with a double title to empire. On 
the death of Maximian and Galerius, Constantine had no otner com- 
petitor but Maxenlius,the son of the former, and the contest between 
them was decided by the sword. Maxentius fell in bat^'e, and Con- 
stantine remained sole master of the empire. 

9. The administration of Constantine ^vas, i" ^Jie beginning of his 
reign^ mild, equitable, and politic. Tho'-gh zealously attached to 
the christian tiiith, he made no violent innovations on the rehgion of 
the state. He introduced order a-' economy mto the civil govern- 
ment, and repressed everv 'I'Scies o< oppression and corruption. 
But his nat-.'.ral temper w,-' severe and cruel, and the alter part of 
his rei"-n ^vs as muc'' fletormed by intolerant zeal and sanguinary 
rigoui^^as the ibr/.-^>'^d been remarkable Tor equity and benignity. 
From this unf'^^'^^'^^ble chgnge of character he lost the aflections of 
his subier'^ 5 ^'^'^'' ^^"^ '^ feeling probably of reciprocal disgust, he 
remo''-^ the scat of the lioman empire to Byzantium, now termed 
(;...stantinople. The court foliowed the sovereign; the opulent 
proprietors were attended by tlieir slaves and retainers. Rome was 
in a tew years greatly depopulated, and the new capital swelled at 
once to enormous magnitude. It was characterized by eastern 
splendour, luxury, and voluptuotisness ; and the cities of Greece 
were despoiled for its embellishments. Of the internal pohcy of 
the empire we shall treat in the next section. In an expedition 
against the Persians. Constantine died at Nicomedia, m the 30th 
year of his reign, and 63d of his age, A. D. 337. In the time of 
Constantine the Goths had made several irruptions on the empire, 
and, though repulsed and beaten, began gradually to encroach on 
the provinces. 

H2 12 



m ANCIENT HISTORY. 



SECTION XLIV. 

STATE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE AT THE TIME OF CON- 

STANTINE. HIS SUCCESSORS. 

1. In lieu of the ancient republican distinctions, which were 
founded chiefly on personal merit, a rigid subordination of rank and 
office now went through all the orders of the state. The magis- 
trates were divided into three classes, distinguished by the ur.mean-^ 
ing titles of, l.the illustiious; 2, the respectable; 3, the clurissimi. 
Ihe epithet of illustrious was bestowed on, 1. the consuls and patri- 
cians; 2, the praetorian pra;fecls of Rome and Constantinople ; 3, the 
aiasters-general of the cavalry and infantry ; 4, the seven ministers 
of the palace. The consuls were created by the sole authority of 
the emperor : their dignity was inefficient ; th'ey had no appropriate 
lunction in the state, and their names served only to give the legal 
date to tlie year. The dignity of patrician was not, as in ancient 
times, a hereditary distinction, but was bestowed, as a title of honour, 
»y the emperor on his flivourites. From the time of the abolition of 
me praetorian bands by Constantino, the dignity of pratorian praa- 
l^o ^'^-5^"%,^'^^ ^" ^^ ^i^'i'' governors of the four departments ot 
^LtT 1 ;. ^^^'^ ^^'«^^' ^^^- East, Illvria, Italy, a.ncl the Gauls. 
tt™wl. ^f .t3^'?**^ administration of juslice and of the linances, 
andean ?p„4S''in?- 3,*.^ '^^ 'f^^^^' lixgistracies-in their district 
,r tkJi-. ?,IVk • ^'"^^'ction from all its tribunals. Independent 
il4 whow.^.t7^'' ^.T^^''--F^'^^^'^-'^"tinople had each its own pra> 
tect, who was the chiet ma.<<istnt^u^ of ilw.^;f,r i,, n „ ^„^,,, i ^i , 

the 'respectable, were the procons^./^rA la Acl afa Sd Af £" 
and the military co^mie, and dnces, genel.f,'S^lt m^Vdnl nrm t^' 
The third class, ofomsimi, compVe1.er>def, 'i!,i'^f„g^f,''/^'^^J^!^;j- 

Ihe'rllutr "' '''" ^''"'"'^"' '"'"""'^^^'^ -Ihe^^Jf^ctnid 
2. The intercourse between the court and provinceb ,^.,-, ,„„:-, 
tained by the construction of roads, and the institution ot .." 'v"' 
posts or couriers ; under which denomination were ranked <he ml^i 
berless spies of government, whose dutv w;is to convey all aort oi 
intelligence from the remotest quarter "of the empire to its chk-f 
eeat. Every institution was calculated to support the fabric of des- 
potism. Torture was employed for the discovery of crimes. Taxes 
and impositions of every nature were prescribed and levied hv the 
sole authority of the emperor. The quantity and rate were fixed by a 
census made over all the provinces, and part vvas generally paid in 
money, part in die produce of the lands; a burden frequently found 
go grievous as to prompt to the neglect of agriculture. Every ob- 
ject' of merchandise and manufactiife Avas likewise highly taxed. 
Subsidies, m.oreover, were exacted from all the cities, under llie 
name of free gifts, on various occasions of public concerns; as tlie 
accession of an emperor, his consulate, the birth of a prince, a victory 
over the barbarians, or any other event of similar importance. 

3. An impolitic distinction was made betv\:een the troops stationed 
in the distant provinces and those in the heart of the empire. The 
latter, termed palatines^ enjoyed a higher pay and more peculiar 
favour, and, having less empioyment, spent their time in idleness and 
laxuiy; waiie the former, termedtiie b&txl&era. who, in fact, liad the 



ANCIENT IJISTOUY 9 J 

care of tlie empire, and were exposed to perpetual hard service, had, 
■ tvith an inferior reward, the mortiiication of feeUng themselves re- 
garded as of meaner raoK than their fellow-soldiers. Constantine like- 
'tvise, from a timid policy of guarding against mntiriies. of the troops, 
reduced the legion from its ancient complement of\5,000, 6.000, 
7,000, and 8,000, to 1,000 or 1,500^ and debased the body of the 
army by the intermixture of Scythians, Goths, and Germans. 

4. This immense mass of heterogeneous parts, which internally 
laboured with the seeds of dissolution and corruption, was kept to- 
gether for some time by the vigorous exertion of despotic author ty. 
The fabric was splendid and august ; but it wanted both that energy 
of constitution and that real dignity, which, in former times, it derived 
from the exercise of heroic and patriotic virtues. 

5. Constantine, with a destructive policy, had divided the empire 
among live princes, three of them his sons, and two nephews ; but 
Constantius, the youngest of the sons, linally got rid of all his com- 
petitors, and ruled the empire alone with a weak and impotent scep- 
tre. A variety of domestic broils, and mutinies of the troops against 
their generals, had left the western frontier to ihe mercy of the bar- 
barian nations. The Franks, Saxons, Alemanni, and Sarmatians, laid 
waste all the tine countries watered by the Rhine, and the Persians 
made di'^adful incursions on the provinces of the east. Constantius 
indolently wasted his time in theological controversies, but was pre- 
vailed on to adopt one prudent measure, the appointment ot his 
cousin Julian to the dignity of Csesar. 

6. Julian possessed many heroic qualities, and his mind was formed 
by nature lor the sovereignty of a great people ; but, educated at 
Athens, in the schools of the Platonic philosophy, he had unfortunately 
conceived a rooted antipathy to the doctrines of Christianity. With 
every talent of a general, and possessing the confidence and afiec- 
tion of his troops, he once more restored the glory of the Roman 
arms, and successfully repressed the invasions of the barbarians. 
His victories excited the jealousy of Constantius, who meanly re- 
solved to remove from his command the belter part of his troops. The 
consequence was a declaration of the army^ that it was their choice 
that Julian should be their emperor. Constantius escaped the igno- 
miny that awaited him by dying at this critical juncture, and Julian 
was immediately acknowledged sovereign of the Roman empire. 

7. The reformation of civil abuses formed tiie iii'st object of his 
attention, which he next turned to trie reformation, as he thought, 
of religion, by the suppiession of Christianity. He began by reform-' 
ing the pagan theology, and sought to r;iise the character of its 
l^iests, by inculcating 'purity of life and sanctity of morals; thtis 
beanng involuntary testimony to the superior excellence, in tho?o 
reapecs;, of that religion which he laboured to abolish. Without 
persecutif a- he attacked the christians by the more dangerous policy 
ot treating i^^^ ^yjt^ contempt, and removing them, as visionaries, 
irom a 1 emplwments of public trust. He roi'used them ;he benelii 
ot ttie laws to deo^e their differences, beJause their religion forbade 
all dissensions; and 'j^ey were debarred the studies of literature and 
ptiilosophy, which they could not learn but from pagan authors. He 
was liimselt, as a pagan, +he slave <Ji the most bigoted superstition, 
believing in omens and augu^-ies, and fincying himself lavoured with 
an actual intercourse with the gods and goddesses. To avenge the 
mjuries which the empire had sustained from the Persians, Julian 
inarched into the heart of Asia, and ivas for some time in the train 



95 .\iN^Cl£KT HISTORY. 

of conquest, when, in a fatal engagement, though crowned with 
victory, he was slain, at tJie age of thirty-one, after a reign of three 
years, A. D. 363. 

8. The Roman army was dispirited by the death of its commander. 
They chose for their emperor Jovian, a captain of the domestic 
guards, and purchased a free retreat from the dominions of Persia 
by tlie ignominious surrender of five provinces, which had been ceded 
by a former sovereign to Galerius. Tlie short reign of Jovian, a 
period of seven months, was mild and equitable. He favoured Chris- 
tianity, and restored its votaries to all their privileges as subjects. 
He died sudderdy at the age of thirty-three. 

9. Valentinian was chosen emperor by the army on the death of 
Jovian; a man of obscure birth and severe manners, but of consider- 
able military talents. He associated with himself in the empire his 
brother Valens, to whom he gave the dominion of the eastern prov- 
inces, reserving to himself the western. The Persians, under Sapor, 
were making inroads on the former, and the latter was subject to 
continual invasion from the northern barbarians. They were suc- 
cessfully repelled by Valentinian in many battles ; and his domestic 
administration was wise, equitable, and politic. The christian reli- 
gion was favoured by the emperor, though not promoted by the 
persecution of its adversaries ; a contrast to the condrfct of his 
Drother Valens, who, intemp-erateiy supporting the Arian heresy, set 
the whole provinces in a liame, and drew a swarm of invaders upon 
the empire in the guise of li'iends and allies, who in the end entirely 
subverted it. These were ti)e Goths, who, migrating from Scandi • 
navia, had, in the second century, settled on the banks of tiie Palus 
Mosotis, and thence gradually extended their territory. In the reign of 
Valens they took possession olDacia, and were known by the distinct 
appellation of Ostrogoths and Visigoths, or eastern and western Goths ; 
a remarkable people, whose manners, customs, govermnent, and 
laws, are afterwards to be. particularly noted. 

10. V^alentinian died on an expedition against the Alemanni, and 
vvas succeeded in the empire of the west by Gratian, his eldest son, 
a boy of sixteen years of age, A. 1). 367. Valens, in the east, was 
the scourge of his people. The Huns, a new race of barbarians, of 
Tartar or Siberian origin, nov/ poured down on the provinces both 
of the ^vest and east. The Goths, comparatively a civilized people, 
fled before them. The Visigoths, who were first attacked, requested 
protection from the enipire, and V^alens imprudently gave them a 
settlement in Thrace. The Ostrogoths made the same request, and, 
on refusal, forced their w;iy into the same province. Valens gave 
them battle at Adrianople. His army was defeated, and he was sl-^"" 
in the engagement. The Goths, unresisted, ravaged Achaia and ^a"' 
nonia. r h 

11. Gratian, a youth of great worth, but of little ener^j'^ot cnar- 
acter, assumed Theodosius as his colleague. On the *^<yjX "^'}"l^* 
Gratian, and the minority of his son Valentinian ", Iheodosms 
governed, witii great ability, both the eastern an-^ vvestern empu'e. 
The character of Theodosius, deservedly sur-amed tlie great, was 
worthy of the best ages of the Roman state. He successfully repell- 
ed the encroachments of the barbarians, p^kI secured, by wholesome 
laws, the prosperity of his people. He died, after a reign ot 
eighteen years, assigning to his s^iis, Arcadius and Honorius, tlie 
separate sovereignties of east and west, A. D. 395. 



ANC ENT illSTOllY. 



SECTION XLV. 



PROGRESS OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, f'ROM ITS INSTI- 
, TUTION TO THE EXTINCTION OF PAGANISM IN THE 
'■■■'• REIGN OF THEODOSIUS. 

I. The reign of Theodosius was signalized by the dovviifal of the 
pagan superstition, and the full establisiiment of the christian religion 
in the Roman empire. This great I'e volution of opinions is highly 
worthy of attention, and naturally induces a retrospect to the condi- 
^on of the christian church from its institution down to this period. 

it has been frequently remarked (because it is an obvious truth), 
that at the thne of our Saviour's birtn a divme revelation seemed to 
be more peculiarly needed ; and that, from a concurrence of circum- 
stances, the state of the world was then uncommonly favourable for 
the extensive dissemination of the doctrines which it conveyed. The 
union of so many nations under one power, and the extension of civ- 
ilization, were liivourable to the progress of a religion which pre- 
scribed universal charity and benevolence. The gross superstitions 
of paganism, and its tendency to corrupt instead of purifying the 
morals, contributed to explode its influence with every thinking mind. 
Even the prevalent philosophy ol" the times, epicurism, more easily 
understood than the retinenients of the Platonists, and more gratcfuJ 
than the severities of the Stoics, tended to degrade human nature to 
the level of the brute creation. The^ christian reiigionj thus ncces- 
iary for the reformation of the world, found its chief partisans in those 
who were the friends of virtue, and its enemies among the votaries 
of vice. 

;. 2. The persecytioii which the christians suffered from the Romans 
has been deemed ■ an exception to that spirit of toleration v/hich 
they showed to the religions of other nations ; but they were toler- 
ant only to those whose theologies v.'erc not hostile to their own. 
Tlie religion of the Romans was interwoven with their political con- 
stitution. The zeal of the christians, aiming at the suppression of all 
idolatry, was naturally regarded as dangerous to the state ; and hence 
they were the object of hatred.and persecution. In the tirst century 
the christian church suffered deeply under Nero and Domitian 
yet those persecutions had no tendency to check the progress of iti 
doctrines. 

3. It is matter of question what was the form of the primitive 
church, and the nature of its government ; and on this head much 
difference of opinion obtains, not only betv/een the catholics and prot 
estants, but between the different classes of the latter, as the Luthex- 
aus and Calvinists. It is moreover an ophiion, that our Saviour aud 
his apostles, confining theu' precepts to the pure doctrines of religion, 
have left all christian societies to regulate their frame and govern- 
ment in the manner best suited to the civil constitutions of the coun- 
tries in which they are established. 

4. In the second century the books of the New Testament were 
collected into a volume i'y the elder fathers of the church, and rc- 
cei\ed as a canon of faith. The Old Testament had been translat- 
ed from the Hebrew into Greek, by order of Ptoleray Philadelphus, 
284 years before Christ. The early church suffered much from an 
absurd endeavour of the more learned of its votaries to reconcile its 



94 ANCIENT HiyTORi'. 

doctrines to tlie tenets of the pagan^philosophers: hence the sects of 
the Gnostics and Ammonians, and ffie Plutonising christians. In the 
second century the Greek churches began to form provincial associ 
ations, and to establish general rules of government and discipline. 
Assemblies were held, termed synodoi and concilia^ over which a me- 
tropolitan presided. A short time after arose t!ie superior order of 
patriarch, presiding over a large district of the christian world ; and 
a subordination taking place even among these, the bishop of Rome 
was acknowledged the chief of the patriarchs. Persecution still at- 
tended the early church, even under those excellent princes, Trajan, 
Adrian, and the Antonines ; and, in the reign of Severus, all the prov- 
inces of the empire were stained with the blood of the martyrs. 

5. The third century was more favourable to the progress of Chris- 
tianity and the tranquillity of its disciples. In those times it suffered 
less from the civil arm than from the pens of the pagan phijosopersj 
Porphyry, Philostratus, &c. ; but these attacks called forth the zeal 
and talents of many able defenders, as Origen, Dionysms, and Cy- 
prian. A part of the Gauls, Germany, and Britain, received the light 
of the gospel in this ceniury. 

6. In the fourth century the christian church was alternately per- 
secuted and cherished by the Roman emperors. Among its oppres- 
sors we rank Diocletian, Galerius, and Julian ; among its fivourers, 
Constantine and his sons, Valentinian, Valens, Gratian, and the excel- 
lent Theodosius, in whose reign the pagan superstition came to its 
final period. 

7. From the age of Numa to the reign of Gratian the Romans 
preserved the regular succession of the- several sacerdotal colleges, , 
the pontiffs, augurs, vestals, JJamines^ saliL &c., whose authorityj 
though weakened in the latter ages, v»^as still protected by the laws. 
Even the christian emperors held, like their pagan predecessors, the 
office of poniifex viaximus. Gratian was the tirst who refused that 
ancient dignity as a profanation. In the time of Theodosius the 
cause of Christianity and of paganism was solemnly debated in the 
Roman senate between Ambrose, archbishop of Milan, the champion 
of the former, and Symmachus, the defender of the latter. The 
cause of Christianity was triumphant, and the senate issued its de- 
cree for the abolition of paganism, whose downfal in the capital waS' 
soon followed by its extinction in the provinces. Theodosius, with 
able policy, permitted no persecution of the ancient religion, which i 
perished with more rapidity, because its fall was gentle and un- 
resisted. 

8. But the christian church exhibited a supei'stition in some le- 
spects little less irrational than polytheism, in the worship of saints 
and relics; and many novel tenets, untbunded in the precepts oi 
our Saviour and his apostles, were manifestly borrowed from the 
pagan schools. The doctrines of the Platonic philosophy seem tOi 
have led to the notions of an intermediate state of purification, ce- 
libacy of the priests, ascetic mortifications, pjnances, and monastia 
geclusioo. 



ANCIENT HISTORY. 



SECTION XL VI. 



EXTINCTION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN THE WEST. 

1. In the reigns of Arcadius and Honorius, the sons and successors 
of Theodosius, the barbarian nations established themselves in the 
frontier provinces both of the east and west. Theodosius had com- 
mitted the goveniment to Kufinus and Stilicho during the nonage of 
his sons ; and their iiital dissensions gave every advantage to the 
enemies of the empire. The Huns, actually invited by Rufinus, 
overspread Armenia, Cappadocia, and Syria. The Goths, under 
Alaric, ravaged to the borders of Italy, and laid waste Achaia to the 
Peioponnesus. Stilicho, an able g<'nerai, made a noble stand against 
these invaders ; but his plans v/ere frustrated by the machinations 
of his rivals, and the weakness of Arcadius, who purchased an 
ignominious peace, by ceding to Alaric the v.-ho!e of Greece. 

2. Alaric, now styled king of the Visigoths, prepared to add Italy 
to his new dominions. He passed the Alps, ;ind was carrying all 
before him, when, amused by the politic Stilicho with the prospect 
of a new cession of territory, he was attacked unawares, and defeated 
by that general, then commanding the armies of Honorius. The 
emperor triumphantly celebrated, on that occasion, the eternal defeat 
of the Gothic nation; an eternity bounded by the lapse of a few 
months. In this interval, a torr<^nt of the Goths breaking down upon 
Germany forced the nations whom they dispossessed, the Snevi, 
Alani, aiid Vandals, to proripitr;? themselves upon Italy. They 
joined their arms to tli'- '■ '. 1ira;5 reinforced, determined 
to overwhelm {ic:n;'. ' lie made him change iiis 
purpose, on the promi- weight of gold; a pi'omise 
repeatedly broken by Iloiiorius, auJ itS violation hnaJly revenged by 
Alaric, by the sack and plunder of the city, A. D. 410. Vvith gene- 
rous magnanimity he spared the lives of the vanquished, and, with 
singular liberality of spirit, was anxious to preserve every ancient 
edidcs from destruction. 

3. Alaric, preparing now for the conquest of Sicily and Africa, 
died at this eera of his highest glory; and Honorius, instead of profit- 
ing by this event to recover his lost provinces, made a treaty with 
his successor Ataulfus, gave him in marriage his sister Placidia, and 
secured his frier«Jship by ceding to him a portion of Spain, *vhile a 
great part of what remained had before been occupied by the Van- 
dals. He allowed soon after to the Burgundians a just title to their 
conquests in Gaul. Thus the western empire was passing by de- 
grees from the dominion of its ancient masters. 

.4. The mean and dissolute Arcadius died in the year 408, leaving 
the eastern empire to his infant son Theodosius II. Theodosms was 
a weak prince, and his sister Pulcheria governed the empire, with 
prudence and ability, for the space of forty years. Honoi'ius died in 
the year 423. The laws of Arcadius and Honorius are, with a few 
exceptions, remarkable for their vv'jsdom and equity ; which is a 
6inj?ular circumstance, considering the personal character of those 
princes, and evinces at least that tliey employed some able ministers. 
5. The Vandals, under Genseric, subdued the Roman province 
in Afi'ica. The Haas, in the east, extended their conquests from 
the borders of China to tlie Baltic sea. Under Attila they laid waste 



96 ANCIEInT i-llSTOKY. 

Mossia and Thmce ; ;ind Theodosiui!, after n mean attempt to mur 
der tlie barbarian general, ingloriously submitted to pay him an an- 
nual tribute. It was in this crisis of universal decay that the Britons 
implored tlie Romans tc del"end them against tlic Picts and Scots, bul: 
received for answer, that they had nothing to bestow on them but 
compassion. The Britons, in "despair, sought aid from the Saxons 
and Angles, who seized, as their property, the country which they 
were invited to protect, and founded, in the fifth and sixth centuries, 
the kingdoms of the Saxon heptarchy. (See Part II, Sect. XII, § 6.) 

6. Attila, with an army of 500,000 men, threatened the total de- 
struction of the empire. He was ably opposed by ^Etius, general of 
Valentinian lib, now emperor of the west. V'alentinian was shut up 
in Rome by the arms ot the barbarijin, and at length compelled to 
purchase a peace. On the death of Attila his dominions were dis- 
membered by his sons, whose dissensions gave temporary relief to 
the falling empire of Rome. 

7. Alter Valeatinian Hi. we have in the west a succession of 
princes, or rather names, for the events of their reigns merit no 
detail. In the reign of Romulus, surnamed Augustulus, the son ot 
Orestes, the empire cf the vve-st came to a linal period. Odoacer, 
prince of the Heruli, subdued Italy, and spared the liie of Augustulus, 
on condition of his resigning the thrpne, A. I). 476. From the build- 
hig of Rome to the cxiiactiun ol' the vv'estera empire, A. D. 476, is 
a period of 1224 years. 

8. We may reduce to one ultimate cause the various circum- 
stances that produced the decline. and fall of this once magnificent 
fabric. The ruin of the Roman empire was the inevitable conse- 
quence of its greatness. The extension of its dominion relaxed 
tl.e vigour of its frame ; the vices of the conquered nations infected 
the victorious legions, and foreign luxuries coirupted their command- 
ers ; seltish interest supplanted the patriotic affection ; the mai'tial 
spirit was purposely debased by the emperors, who dreaded its 
etfegts on their own power; and the whole mass, thus weakened 
and enervated, fell an "easy prey to the torrent of barbarians which 
overwhelmed it. 

9. The Herulian dominion in Italy ^vas of short duration. Theo- 
doric, prince of the Ostrogoths (afterwards deservedly surnamed 
thegreai)^ obtained permission of Zeno, emperor of the east, to at- 
tempt the recovery of Italy, and a promise of its sovereignty as the 
seward of his success. The whole nation of the Ostrogoths attend- 
ed the standard of Theodoric, Avho was victorious in repeated en- 
gageme'nts, and at length compelled Odoacer to surrender all Italy to 
the concjueror. The Romans had tasted happiness under the govern- 
ment of Odoacer; but their happiaess was increased under the do- 
minion of Theodoric, who possessed every talent and virtue of a sov- 
ereign. His equity and clemency rendered him a blessing to his 
subjects. He allied himself v/ith all the surrounding nations, the 
Franks, Visigoths, Burgundians, and Vandals. He left a peaceable 
sceptre to his grandson Athnlaric, during Vvhosc infancy his mother 
Amalasonte governed with such admirable wisdom and moderation, as 
left her subjects no real cause of regret for llie loss of fier father. 

10. While such was the state of Gothic Italy, the empire of the 
east was under the government of .Justinian, a prince of moan ability, 
vain, capricious, and tyrannical. Yet the Ixom.an name rose for a 
while from its abasement by the merit of his generals. Belisarius was 
the support of his throne; yet Justinian treated him with the most 



ANCIENT HIirOKY. 97 

shocking ingratitude. The Persians were at this time the most for- 
midable enemies of tlie empire, under their sovereigns Cabades and 
Cosrhoes; and from the latter, a most able prince, Justinian meanly 
purchased a peace, by a cession of territory, and an enormous trib- 
ute in gold. The civil factions of Constantinople, arising from the 
most contemptible of causes, the disputes of the performers in the 
circus and amphitheatre, threatened to hurl Justinian from the 
throne, but were fortunately connposed by the arms and the policy of 
Bplisarius. This great general overwhelmed the Vandal sovereignty 
of AtVica, and recovered that province to the empire. He UTested 
'ta!y from its Gothic sovereign, and once more restored it for i\ short 
tira3 to the dominion of its ancient masters. 

11. Italy was recovered to the Goths by the heroic Totila, who 
besieged and took the city of Rome, but forebore to destroy it at 
the request of Belisarius. The fortunes of Belisarius were now in 
the wane. He was compelled to evacuate Italy, and, on his return 
to Constantinople, his long services were repaid with disgrace. He 
was superseded in the command of the armies by the eunuch Narses, 
who defeated Totiln i;-; a decisive engagement, in which the Got!iic 
prince was slain. Narsss governed Italy with great ability for thir- 
teen years, when he was ungratefully recalled by Justin 11. the suct 
cesser of Justinian. He invited the Lombards to avenge his injiinos ; 
and this new tribe of invaders overran and coiiquered the country, 
A. D. 568. • ■ 



SECTION XLVII. 

OF THE ORIGIN, MANNERS, AND CHARACTER OF TilE 
GOTPIIC NATIONS, BEFORE THEIR ESTAI3LISHiVlENT IN 
THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

1. The history and manners of the Gothic nations are ciirJoas 
objects of inquiry, from their influence oa the constitutions asid na- 
tional character of most of the modern kingdoms of Europe. As the 
present inhabitants of these kingdoms are a mixed race, compouiuUr] 
of the Goths and of the nations whom tliey subdued, the laws, Uian- 
ners, and institutions of the •modern kingdoms are the result of Ibis 
conjunction ; and in so far as these are diflerent from the usages prev- 
alent before this intermixture-, t!: :y -r;'- i:i al! j:iob;tl)iUty, to be 
traced from the ancient manners ?.iid iajticsuions of those northern 
tribes. We purpose to considei' t'no original character of the 
Gothic nations, and the change of their manners on tlieir establish- 
ment in the Roman empire. 

2. The Scandinavian chronicles attribute to the ancient Inhabitants 
of that country an Asiatic origin, and inform us that the Goths ^vere 
a colony of Scythians, ivho migrated thither from the banks of the 
Black sea and the Caspian: but these chronicles do not fix the period 
of this migration, which some later writers suppose to have been 
1,000 years, and others only 70, before the cliristian ajra. Odin, the 
chief deity of the Scandinavians, v/as the god of the Scythians. 
Sigga, a Scythian prince, is said to have undertaken a distant expedi- 
tion, and, after he had subdued several of the Sarmatian tribes, to 
have penetrated into the, northern parts of Germany, and thence 
into Scandinavia. He assumed the honours of divinity, and the title 
of Odin, his national god. He conquered Denmark, Sweden, and 

I 13 



98 AJNC!Ei\T HISTORY. 

Norway, and gave wise and salutary laws to the nations which he 
had subdued by his arras. 

3. The agreement in- manners between the Scythians and the 
ancient Scandinavian nations, corroborates the accounts given in the 
northern chronicles of the identity of their origin. The description 
of the manners of the Germans by Tacitus (though this people was 
probably not of Scythian, but of Celtic origin) may, in many partic- 
ulars, be applied to the ancient nations of Scandinavia ; and the 
same descrijition coincides remarkably with the account given by 
Herodotus of the manners of the Scythians. "Their life was spent 
in hunting, pasturage, and predatory war. Their dress, their weap- 
ons, their food, their respect for their women, their religious wor- 
ship, were the same. Thev despised learning, and had no other 
records for many ages than the songs of their bards. 

4. The theology of the Scandinavians was most intimately con- 
nected with their manners. They held three great principles or 
fundamental doctrines ot religion : " To serve the Supreme Being 
v^ ith prayer and sacritice ; to do no wrong or unjust action ; and to 
be intrepid in tight.-' These principles are the key to the Edda^ or 
sacred book of the Scandinavians, which, though it contains the sub- 
stance of a very ancient religion, is not a \vork of high antiquity, 
being compiled in the thirteenth century by Snorro Sturleson. 
supreme judge of Icehmd. Odin, characterized as the terrible and 
severe god, the father of carnage, the avenger, is the principal deity 
of the Scandinavians; from whose union with Frea, the heavenly 
mother, sprung various subordinate divinities ; as Thor, who per- 
petually wars against Loke and his evil giants, who envy the power 
of Odin, and seek to destroy his works. Among the interior deities 
are the virgins of the Valhalla, whose office is to minister to the he- 
roes in paradise. The favourites of Odin are ail who die in battle, or, 
what is equally meritorious, by their own hand. The tin»id wretch, 
who allows himself to perish by disease or age, is unworthy of the 
joys of pnradise. These joys are, fighting, ceaseless slaughter, and 
drinking beer out of the skulls- of their enemies, with a renovation 
of life, to furnish a perpetuity of the same pleasures. 

5. As the Scandinavians believed this world to be the work of 
some superior intelligences, so they held all nature to be constantly 
under the regulation of an almighty will and power, and subject 
to a fixed and unalterable destiny. These notions had a wonderful 
effect on the national manners, and on the conduct of individuals. 
The Scandinavian placed Ids sole delight in war : he entertained an 
absolute contempt of danger and of death, and his glorj' was estimat- 
ed by the number which he had slain in battle. The death-song of 
Regner Lodhrok^ who comforts himself in his last agonies by recount- 
ing all the acts of carnage which he had committed in his life-time, 
is a faithful picture of the" Scandinavian character. 

6. We have remarked the great similarity of the manners of the 
Scandinavians and the ancient Germans. These n.itions seem, how- 
ever, to have had a different origin. The Germans, as well as the 
Gauls, were branches of that great original nation termed CeltCE, who 
inhabited most of the countries of Europe south of the Baltic, before^ 
they were invaded by the northern tribes from Scandinavia. The ' 
CeltaB were all of the druidical religion, a system different from the 
l)elief and worship of the Scandinavians, but founded nearly on the 
same principles ; and the Goths, in their progress, intermixing with ^ 
the Germans, could not fail to adopt, in part, the notions of a kindred '' 



ANCIENT HIiJTORY. 99 

religion. Druidism acknowledged a god who delighted in blood 
shed, taught the immortality of the soul, and inculcated the contempt 
of danger and of deatli. Tacitus remarks that the ancient Germans 
had neither tensples nor idols. The open air was the temple of the 
divinity, and a consecrated grove the appropriated place for prayer 
and sacritice, which none but the priests were allowed to enter. 
The chief sacrifices were human victims, most probably the prison- 
ers taken in war. The druids heightened the sanctity of their char- 
acter by concealing the mysteries of their worship. They had the 
highest influence over the minds of the people, and thus found it 
easy to conjoin a civil authority with the sacerdotal ; a policy which 
in the end led to the destruction of the druidical system ; for thf 
Romans found no other way of securing their conquests over any o> 
the Celtic nations, but by exterminating the di'uids. 

7. Whatever diiference of manners there may have been amonj: 
the' various nations or tribes of Gothic origin, the great features t-i 
their chai-acter appear to have been the same. Nature, education, 
and prevailing habits, all concurred to form them for an intrepid 
and conquering people. Their bodily frame was invigorated by 
the climate which they inhabited ; they wei'e inured to danger and 
fatigue ; war was their habitual occupation ; they believed in an un- 
alterable destiny, and ^vere taught by their religion that a heroic 
sacrifice of life gave certain assurance of eternal happiness. How 
could a race of mec "^o characterized fail to be the conquerors of the 
world? 

SECTION XLVlll. 

OF THE MANNERS, LAWS, AND GOVERNMENT OF THE 
GOTHIC NATIONS, AFTER THEIR ESTABLISHMENT IN THE 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 

1. It has been erroneously supposed that the same ferocity of 
manners, which distinguished the Goths in their original seats, at- 
tended their successors in their new establishments in the provinces 
of the Roman empire. Modern authors have, given a currencv to 
this false supposition. V^oltaire, in describing the middle ages, paints 
the Goths in all the characters of horror ; as " a troop of hungry 
wolves, foxes, and tigers, driving belbre them the scattered timid 
herds, and involving all in ruin and desolation." The accounts of 
historians most worthy of credit will dissipate this injurious preju- 
dice, and show those northern nations in a more favourable point of 
view, as not unworthy to be the successors of the Romans. 

2. Before their settlement in the southern provinces of Europe, 
the Goths were no longer idolaters, but christians; and their mo 
rality was suitable to the religion which they professed. Salvianus, 
Dishop of Marseilles, in the fifth century, draws a parallel between 
the manners of the Gotlis and of the Romans, highly to the credit ol 
the former. Grotius, in his publication of Frocopius and Jornandes. 
remarks, as a strong testimony to their honourable character as a 
nation, that no province once subdued by the Goths ever voluntarily 
withdrew itself from their government. 

3. It is not possible to produce a moie beautiful picture of an 
excellent administration than that of the Gothic monarchy in Italy 
under Theodoric the great. Though master of the country by 



100 ANCIENT iilSTOKY. 

conquest, yet he was regarded by his subjects with the affection of 
a native sovereign. He retained the lioman laws, and, as nearly 
as possible, the ancient political regulations. In supplying all civil 
offices of state he preferred the native Romans. It was his care to 
preserve every monument of the ancient grandeur of the empire, 
and to embellish the cities by new v/orks of beauty and utility. In 
the imposition and levying of taxes he showed the most humane in- 
dulgence on every occasion of scarcity or calamity. His laws were 
dictated by the most enlightened prudence and" benevolence, ^and 
framed on th.it principle wnich he nobly inculcated in his instructions 
to the Roman senate, " Benigni principis est, non tarn delicta velle pu- 
nire, quam tol 'ere.'''' It is the duty of' a benign pnnce to be disposed to 
prevent rather than to punisli offences. The historians of the times 
delight in rectunting the examples of his munificence and humanity. 
Partial as he .vas to the Arian heresy, many even of the catholic 
fathers have d^tne the most ample justice to his merits, acknowledging 
that, under hij reign, the church enjoyed a high measure of pros- 
perity. Such was Theodoric the great, who is justly termed by Si- 
donius ApoUinaris, Romanoi decus columenquc gentis {the glory and the 
support of the Roman natioti). 

4. But a single example could not warrant a general inference 
with regard to the merits of a whole people. The example of 
Theodoric is not single. If it does not find a complete parallel, it 
is at least nearly approached to in the. similar characters of Alaric, 
Amalasonte, and Totila. Alaric, compelled by his enemy's breach 
of faith to revenge himself by the sack of Rome, showed even in 
that revenge a noble example of humanity. Wo blood was shed 
without necessity ; the churclies were inviolable asylums ; the hou 
our of the women was preserved ; the treasures of the city were 
saved from plunder. Amalasonte, the daughter of Theodoric, 
repaired to her subjects the loss of her flxther, by the equity and 
wisdom of her administration. She trained her son to the stuoy of 
hterature and of every polite accomplishment, as the best means of 
reforming and enlightening his people. Totila, twice master of 
Rome, which he won by his arms after an obstinate resistance, imi- 
tated the example of Alaric in his clemency to the vanquished, and 
in his care to preserve every remnant of ancient magnificence Jrom 
destruction. He restored the senate to its authority, adorned Rome 
with useful edifices, regulated its internal policy, and took a noble 
pride in reviving the splendour and dignity of the empire. Habitavit 
''•Aim Romanis., says a contemporary author, ianquam pater cum Jiliis. 
He lived with the Roinons as a father with his children. 

5. The stem of the Gothic nation divided itself into two great 
Dranches, the Ostrogoths, who remained in Pannonia, and the \Vest- 
rogotbs or Visigoths, so termed from their migrating thence to the 
west of Europe. Italy was posses.?ed by the latter under Alaric, and 
ny the former under Theodoric. The Visigoths, after the death of 
Alaric, wiilidrew into Gaul, and obtained from Honorius the province 
of Aquitaine, of which Thoulouse was the capital. When expelled 
from that province by the Franks, they crossed the Pyrenees, 
and, settling in Spain, made Toledo the capital of their kingdom. 
Tlie race of the Visigoth princes was termed the Bnlti., that of the 
O.strogoths the Amali. The Ostrogoths enforced in their dominions 
the oi)servance of the Roman laws ; the Visigoths adhered to a code 
compiled by their own sovereigns, and founded on the ancient man- 
ners and usages of their nations. From this code, therefore, we may 



AiNClENT HISTORY. 101 

derive mach information relative to the genius and character of this 
ancient people. 

6. It is enacted by the laws of the VisigotJu that no judge shall 
becide in any lawsuit, unless he tind in that book a law applicable to 
the case. All causes that fall not under this description are reserved 
for the decision of the sovereign. The penal laws are severe, but 
tempered with great equity. No punishment can affUct the heirs of 
the criminal : Omnia crimina siios scquantur auctores, — et ille solus, judi- 
cetur culpubilis qui culpanda commiserit, et crimen cum illo quifeceril 
moriaiur. All crimes shall attach to their authors^ — and he aloe shall bt 
iudged adpable, who hath committed offences^ and the crime slu/U die u-ith 
aim who hath conunittcd it. Death was the punishment of ti^e murdei 
of a freeman, and perpetual infamy of the murder of a sjive. Pe- 
cuniary fines were enacted for various subordinate olfencfs, accord- 
ing to their measure of criminality. An adulterer was delivered in 
bondage to the injured husband ; and the free woman who liad com- 
mitted adultery with a married man, became the slave of his wife. 
No physician was allowed to visit a female patient, except in the 
presence of her nearest kindred. The lex talionis {the la:w of retalia- 
tion^ was in great observance for such injuries as admitted it. It was 
even carried so tar, that the incendiary of a hoiise was burnt alive. 
The trials by judicial combat, by ordeal, and by the judgment ol 
God, which were in frequent use among the Franks and Normans, 
had no place among the Visigoths. Montesquieu has erroneously 
asserted, that in all tlie Gothic nations it was usual to judge the 
litigants by the law of their own country ; the Roman by the Roman 
law, the Frank by the law of the Franks, the Aleman by the law 
ol the Alemaas. On the contrary, the Visigoth code prohibits the 
laws of all other nations within their territories. Columns sive Ro- 
manis legibus^ sive alien is institutiombus., amplius convexari. We will not 
be controlled by the Konuin laws, nor by foreign institutions. I'he laws 
of the Franks and Lombards are remarkable for their wisdom and 
judicious policy. 

1. The government of the Goths, after their settlement in the 
Roman provinces, was monarchical. It was at first elective, and 
afterwards became hereditary. The sovereign on his death-bed 
appointed his successor, with the advice or consent of his grandees. 
Illegitimacy did not disqualify from succession or nomination to the 
throne. 

8. The dukes and counts were the chief officers under the Gothic 
government. The duke {dux exercitus) was the commander m chiel 
of the troops of the province ; the count {comes) was the highest 
civil magistrate. But these offices frequently intermixed their func- 
tions, the count being empowered, on sudden emergencies, to assume 
a military command, and the duke, on some occasions, Avarranted to 
exercise judicial authority. In general, howevei', their departments 
were distinct. Of comiics there were various orders, with distinct ofh- 
cial powers; as, comes., cubiculi, chamberlain, comes stabuli, constable, &c. 
These various officers were the proceres or grandees of the kingdom, 
by whose advice the sovereign conducted himself in important mat- 
ters of government, or in the nomination of his successor; but we do 
not find that they had a voice in the framing of laws, or in the im- 
position of taxes ; and the prince himself had the sole nomiuation to 
all offices of government, magistracies, and dignities. 
12 



iOi ANCIENT iilSTORY. 

SECTION XLIX. 
METHOD OF STUDYING ANCIENT HISTORY. 

1. A GENERAL and concise vieAV of ancient history may be acquired 
l»y the perusal of a very i'ew books ; as that part of the CourscP Elude 
of the Abbe Condillac which regards the history of the nations of 
antiquity ; the Elements of General History by the Abbe Millot, part 
1st; the Epitome of Turselline, with the notes of L'Agueau, part 
1st; or the excellent Compendium Histories Universalis^ hj \n-ofessoT 
Ofierhaus of Groningen. The two tirst of these works have tlie 
merit of uniting a spirit of retlection with a judicious selection of 
events. The notes cf L'Agncau to the Epitome of Turselline con- 
tain a great store of geographical and biographical information. 
The work of Offerhaus is peculiarly valuable^ as uniting sacred with 
profane history, and containing most ample references to the ancient 
authors. The Discours siir PHisioire Univcrselle^ by the bishop 
of Meaux, is a work of higb merit, but is not adapted to convey in- 
formation to the uninstructed. It is more useful to those who have 
already studied history in detail, ibr uniting in the mind the great 
current of events, and recalling to the memory their order and con- 
nexion. 

But the student who \vishes to derive the most complete advan- 
tage from history, must not confine himself to such general or com- 
pendious views ; he must resort to the original historians of ancieq* 
times, and to the modern writers who have treated with amplitude 
01 particular periods. It may be useful to such students to point 
out the order in which those historians may be most profitably 
perused. ' y. 

2. Next to the historical books of the; Qld Testament, the m.ost 
ancient history worthy of perusal is that r/" Herodotus^ which com 
prebends tlie annals of Lydia, Ionia, Lycia, Egypt, Persia, Greece, 
and Macedonia, during above 230 years preceding 479 A. C. 

Book 1. History of Lydia from Gyges to Cra3sus. Ancient Ionia. 
Manners of the Persians, Babylonians, &,c. History of Cyrus the 
Ekler. 

B. 2. History of Egypt, and Manners of the Egyptians. 

E. 3. History of Cambyses. Persian lUonarchy under Darius 
Hystaspes. 

B. 4. History of Scythia. 

B. 5. Persian Embassy to Macedon. Athens, Lacedaemon, Corinth, 
at the same period. 

B. 6. Kings of Lacedapmon. War of Persia against Greece, to the 
battle of Marathon. 

B. 7. The same War, to the battle of Thermopylae. 

B. 8. The Naval Battle of Siilamis. 

B, 9. The Defeat and Expulsion of the Persians from Greece. 

(The merits of Herodotus are sliortly characterized in Sect. 

xiii,§i.) 

3. A more particular account of the periods treated by Herodotus 
may be Found in Justin, lib. 1, 2, 3, and 7 : in the Cyropedia ol'Xeno- 
phon ,\ in the Lives of Aristides, Themistocles, Cinion, Miltiades, and 
rausanias, written by Plutarch and Cornehus Nepos; and in the 
lives of Anaximander. Zeno, Empedocles, Heraclitus, and Democri- 
t«s, by Diogenes Laertius. 



ANCIENT HISTOia'. 503 

4. The Grecian history is taken up by Thucydides from the 
period where Herodotus ends, and is continued for seventy years, to 
the twenty-iirst of the Pelopoanesian war. (This work characterized. 
Sect. XXII, § 2.) Tliis period is more amply illustrated by perusing 
the 11th ancl 12th books of Diodorus Siculus; the Lives of Alcibia- 
des, Chabrias, Thrasybnlus, and Lysias, by Plutarch andNepos; the 
2d, 3d, 4th, and 5th books of Justin; and the 14th and 15th chapters 
of the 1st book of Orosius. 

5. Next to Thucydides the student ought to peruse the 1st and 
2d books of Xeaophon''s History of Greece, which comprehends the 
iiarrative of the Peloponnesian war, with the contemporary history of 
tlie Medes and Persians ; tlien the expedition of Cyrus {Jnabasis), and 
the continuation of the history to its conclusion with the ba*tle of 
Mantinea. (Xenophon characterized, Sect. XXII, ^ 3.) For illustrat- 
i'lg this period we have the Lives of Lysander, Agesilaus, Artaserxes, 
t'onon, and Datames, by Plutarch and Nepos; the 4th, 5th, and 6th 
books of Justin ; and the 13th and 16th books of Diodorus Siculus. 

6. After Xenophon let the student read the 15th and 16th books 
of Diodorus, which contain the history of Greece and Persia, from 
the battle of Mantinea to the reign of Alexander the great. (Diodorus 
characterized. Sect. XXII, § 5.) To complete this period let him 
read the Lives of Dion, Iphicrates, Timotheus, Phocion, and Timo- 
leon, by Nepos. 

7. For the history of Alexander the great we have the admirable 
works of Arrian and Quintus Curtius. (Arrian characterized, Sect 
XXII, § 8.) Curtius possesses great judgmient in the selection ol 
facts, with much elegance and perspicuity of diction. He is a good 
moralist and a good patriot; but his passion for embellishment 
derogates from the purity of history, and i-enders his authority sus- 
picious. 

8. For the continuation of the history of Greece from the death 
ot" Alexander, we have the 18th, 19th, and 20th books of Diodorus; 
the history of Justin from the 13th book to the end ; and the Lives 
of the principal personages written by Plutarch. The history of 
Justin is a jiulicious abridgment of a much larger VvOrK by Trogus 
Pompeius, which is lost.- Justin excels in the delineation of charac- 
ters, and in purity of style. 

9. I have mentioned'the Lives of Plutarch and Cornelius P7ejK)S 
as the best supplement to the account of particular periods of ancien) 
history. It is the highest praise of Plutarch that his writiHgs are 
admirable for their morality, and furnish instructive lessons of active 
virtue. He makes us familiarly acquainted with the g^^eat men of 
antiquity, and chiefly deliglUs in painling their private character and 
manners. The short Lives written by Nepos shov.' great judgment, 
and a happy selection of such facts as display tlie genius and charac 
ter of his heroes'. Tiiey are written with purfty and elegance. 

U^. l^^'or the Roman history in its early jperiods vve have the An 
tiquities of Dionysius of Halicarnr.ssus, ^Vhich bring down the his 
tory of Rome to 412 A. U. C. They are chiefly valuable, as illus 
trating the manners and customs, the rites civil and religious, and the 
laws of the Roman state. But the writer is too apt to frame hypoth- 
eses, and to give views instead of narratives. We expect these in 
the modern writers who treat of ancient times, but cannot tolerate 
them in the sources of history. 

11. The work of Livy is tar more valuable than that of Dio- 
■ysius. It is a perfect model of history, both as to matter and compo- 



liH ANCIENT HISTORY 

sition. (Characterized, Sect. XXXVI, § 10.) Of 132 books only 36 
remain, and those are interrupted by a considerable chasm. The 
first decade (or ten books') treats of a period of 460 years ; the sec- 
ond decade, containing sevenlj'-live years, is lost; the third coniains 
the second Punic war, including eighteen years; the fourth contains 
the war against Philip of Macedon, and the Asiatic war against Anti- 
ochus, a space of twenty-three years. Of the fifth decade there are 
only five books ; and the remainder, which reaches to the death of 
Drusus, 746. A. U. C. together with tlie second decade, have been 
supplied by !Freinshemius. To supply the chasm of the second de- 
cade the situdent ought to read, together with the epitome of those 
lost books, the first and second books of Polybius ; the 17th, ]8lh, 
22d, and 23d books of Justin ; the lives of JMarcellus and Fabius 
Maximus by Plutarch ; and the Punic and lUyrian wars by Appian. 

12. The histoi-y of Polybius demands a separate and attentive 
perusal, as an admirable compendium of political and military in- 
struction. Of forty books of general history we have only five en- 
lire, and excerpts of the following twelve. Polybius treats of the 
history of the Romans, and of the nations with whom they were at 
war, from the beginning of the second Punic war to the beginning of 
the war with Macedonia, comprising in all a period of about hity 
years. Of the high estimation in which Polybius was held by the 
authors of antiquity we have sufficient proof in the encomiums he- 
stowed on him by Cicero, Strabo, Josephus, and Plutarch ; and in the 
use which Livy has made of his history, in adopting his narratives 
by a translation nearly literal. 

13. The work of Appian, whic;h originally consisted of twenty 
books, from the earliest period of the Roman history down to the 
age of Adrian, is greatly mutilated; and there remains only his 
account of the Syrian, Parthian, Mithridatic, Spanish, Punic, and 
Illyrian wars. His narrative of each of these vvars is remarkably 
distinct and judicious; and his composition, on the whole, is chaste 
and perspicuous. After the history of Appian the student should re- 
sume Livy, from the beginning of the third decade, or 21st book, to 
the end. Then he may peruse with advantage the Lives of Hanni- 
bal, Scipio Africanus, Flaminius, Paulus /Emilius, the elder Cato, the 
Gracchi, Marius, Sylla, the younger Cato, Sertorius, Lurullus, Julius 
Caesar, Cicero, Pomjiey, anci Brutus, by Plutarch. 

H. Sallust's histories of (he Jugurthine war and of the conspiracy 
of CafJine come next in order. (SaliusL chax-acterized,Sect. XXXVi, 
^ 8.) Then follow the Commentaries of Caesai', remarkable for 
perspicuity of narration, and a happy union of brevity with elegant 
simplicity of siyle. (Sect. XXXIV, ^9.) The epitomes of Florus and 
of Veleius Paterculus may be perused with advantage at this period 
of the course. The latter is a model for abridgn)ent of history, in 
hhe opinion of the president Henault. 

15. For the history of Rome under the first emperors we have 
Suetonius and Tacitus; and for the subsequent reigns, the series of 
flie minor historians, termed Historic Augusta Scripiores {writers of 
august history)^ and the Byzantine writers. Suetonius gives us a 
^series of detached characters, illustrated by an artful selection of facts 
and anecdotes, rather than a regular history. His work is chiefly 
valuable as descriptive of Roman manners. His genius has too much 
of the caustic humour of a satirist. Tacitus, with greater powers 
and deeper penetration, has drawn a picture of the times in stem 
and gloomy colours. (Sect. XXXVl. ^11.) From neither of these his- 



ANCIENT iilSTORY. 105 

toiiang -will the ingenuous mind of youth receive moral improvement 
or pleasing and benevolent inripressions ; yet we cannot deny tlieir 
higri utility to the student of politics. 

16. If we except Herodian, who wrote with taste and judgment, it 
is doubtful whether any of the subsequent writers of the Roman 
history deserve a minute perusal. It is therefore advisable for the 
student to derive his knowledge of the history of the decline and 
fall of the Roman empire from modern authors, resorting to tlie 
original writers only for occasional information on detached points of 
importance. For this purpose, the General History by Dr. Howel 
is a work of great utility, being written entirely on the basis of the 
original historians, whose narrative he generally translates, referring 
constantly to his authorities in the margin. In this work the student 
will tind a valuable mass of historical intbrmation. 

17. The reader having thus founded his knowledge of general his- 
tory on the original writers, will now peruse with great advantage 
the modern histories of ancient Greece and Rome by Mitford, Gillies, 
Gast, HOoke, Gibbon, and Furgusson; and will find himself quahtied 
to form a just estimate of their merits, on which it is presumptuoqs 
to decide without such preparatory k-nowledge. 

18.~The greatest magazine of historical information, which has 
ever been collected into one body,,'i3 the English Universal History;' 
a most useful work, from^ the amplitude of its matter, its general 
accuracy, and constant reference to the original authors. We may 
occasionally consult it with great advantage on points where deep 
research is necessary ; but we cannot read it with pleasure as a con- 
tinued work, from its tedious details and harshness of style, its, abrupt 
transitions, and the injudicious ixrrangement of many oi its parts._ 

19., 'Geography and chronology have been justly termed the liglds 
of history. VVe cannot peruse with advantage the historical annals 
ol any country without a competent knowledge of its geographical 
situation, and even of its particular topography. In reatling the de 
scription of any event the mind necessarily forms a picture of the 
scene of action ; and it is sui'ely better to draw the picture with truth 
from nature and reality, than falsely from imagination. Many actions 
and events are likewise intimately connected with the geography and 
local circumstances of a country, and are unintelligible without a 
knowledge of them. 

20. The use of chronological tables is very great, both for the 
purpose of uniting in one view the contemporary events in different 
nations, which often have an inliuenoe on one another, and for re- 
calling to the memory the order and sci'ies of events, and renewing 
the impressions of the objects of former study. It is extremely use- 
ful, after perusing the history of a nation in detail or that of a certain 
a^e or period, to run over briefiy the principal occurrences in a table 
ot chronology. The most perfect works of this kind are the chro- 
nological tables of Dr. Piayfair, vvhich unite history and biography; 
the tables of Dr. Blair; or the older tables by Tallent* 

END OF PART FIRST. 

♦ A list of the best translations of the principal books above meationedi 
Herodotus, translated by Beloe, 4 vols. 8vo. 
Xenophon's Cycropedia by Cooper, 8vo. 
Xenophon's Anabasis, by Spelinau, 2 vols. Svo. 
Xenophon's History of Greece, by Smith, 4to, 

14 



PART SECOND. 
MODERN HISTORY. 



SECTION I. 



OF ARABIA, AND THE EMPIRE OF THE SARACENS. 

1. The fall of the western empire of the Romans, and thetinal sub- 
jugation of Italj by the Lombards, is tlie sera from which we date the 
commencement of Modern History. 

The eastern empire of the Romans continued to exist for many 
ages after this period, still magnificent, though in a state of compar- 
ative weakness aiul degeneracy. Towards the end of the sixth cen- 
tury a new dominion arose in the east, which was destined to produce 
a wonderful change nn a great portion of the globe. 

The Arabians, at this time a rude nation, living chiefly in indepen- 
dent tribes, who traced their descent from the patriarch Abraham, 
professed a mixed religion, compounded of Judaism and idolatry. 
Mecca, their holy city, rose to eminence from the donations of pil- • 
grims to its temple, in which Avas deposited a black stone, an object 
of high veneration. Mahomet was born at Mecca, A. D. 571. Of 
mean descent, and no education, b\it of great natural talents, he sought 
to raise himself to celebrity, bv feigning a divine mission to propagate 
a new religion for tlie salvation oF mankind. He retired to the des- 
ert, and pretended to hold conferences with the angel Gabriel, who 
delivered to him, from time to time, portions of a sacred book or Co- 
ran, containing revelations of the will of the Supreme Being, and of 
the doctrines which he required his prophet to communicate to the 
world. 

2. This religion, while it adopted in part the morality of Christian- 
ity, retained many of the rites of Judaism, and some of the Arabian 
superstitions, hs the pilgrimage to Mecca ; but owed to a certain spirit 

riutarch, by Langhorne, 6 vols. 8vo., or 6 vols. 12mo. Wrangham's 

edition. 
Thucydides, by Smith, 2 vols. 8vo. 
Diony^ins Halicarnassus, by Spelman, 4 vols. 4lo, 
Polybius, by Hampton, 4 vols. tJvo. 
Livy, by 2aker, 6 vols. 8vo. 

Sallust, by Murphy, ijvo. ; by Stuart, 2 vols. 4to. ; by Rose, fivo. 
Tacitus, by Murphy, 8 vols. 8vo. ; Irisli edition, 4 vols. 8vo. 
SuetoiiJus, by Thompson, 8vo. 
l-)iodorus Siculus, by Booth, iblio. 
Arrian, by Rook, 2 vols. 8vo. 

Q. Curtius, by Digby, 2 vols. 12mo. ., 

Justin, by Tumbull, 12mo. 



MODERN HISTORY. I07 

of Asiatic voluptuousness its cliief recommendation to its votaries. 
Tlie Coran taught the belief of one God, whose will and power were 
constantly exerted towards the happiness of his creatures ; that the 
duty of man was to love iiis neighbours, assist the poor, protect the 
injured, to be humane to inferior animals, and to pray seven times a 
day. The pious mussulman was allowed to have four wives, and as 
many concubines as he chose ; and the pleasures' of love were prom- 
ised as the supreme joys of paradise. To revive the impression of 
these laws, ivhich God had engraven originally in the hearts of men, 
he had sent t. ^m time to time his prophets upon earth, Abraham, 
Moses, Jesus X-zhrist, and Mahomet ; the last the greatest, to whom 
all the world should owe its conversion to the true religion. By 
producing the Coran in detached parcels, Mahomet had it in his pow- 
er to solve all objections by new revelations. 

3. Dissensions and popular tumults between the believers and infi- 
dels caused the banishment of Mahomet from Mecca. His flight, 
called the hegym, A. D. 622, is the aera of his glory. He retired to 
Medina, and was joined by the brave Omar. He propagated his doc- 
trines with great success, and marched with his followers in arms, and 
took the city of Mecca. In a few years he subdued all Arabia; and 
then attacking Syria, took several of the Roman cities. In the midst 
of his victories he died at the age of sixty-one, A. D. 632. He had 
nominated Ali, his son-in-law, his successor ; but Abubeker, his tather- 
in-law, secured the succession by gaining the army to his interest. 

4. Abubeker united and pulilished the books of the Coran, and 
prosecuted the conquests of Mahomet. He defeated tiie army of He- 
radius, took Jerusalem, and subjected all the country between Mount 
Libanus and the Mediterranean. On his death Omar was elected to 
the caliphate, and in one campaign deprived the Greek empire of 
Syria, rhoenicia, Mesopotamia, and Chaldaja. In the next campaign 
he subdued to the mussulman dominion and religion, the whole em- 

£ire of Persia. His generals at the same time conquered Egypt, 
ibya, and Numidia. 

5. Otnian, the successor of Omar, added to the dominion of the 
caliphs Bactriana. and part of Tartary, and ravaged Rhodes and the 
Greek islands. His successor \vas Ali, the son-in-law of Mahomet, a 
name to this day revered by the Mahometans. He transferred tne 
seat of the caliphate from Mecca to Couffa, ^vhence it was afterwards 
removed to Bagdat. His reign was glorious, but only of five years' 
duration. In the space of half a century from the beginning of the 
conquests of Mahomet, the Saracens raised an empire more extensive 
than what reniained of the Roman. Nineteen caliphs of the race of 
Omar {Ommiades) reigned m succession, after which began the dy- 
nasty of the Abassidie, descenaeu by the male line i'rom Mahomet. 
Almanzor, second caliph of this race, removed the scat of empire to 
Bagdat, and introduced learning and the culture of the sciences, 
which his successor continued to promote with equal zeal and liber- 
ality. Haroun Alraschid, who flourished in the beginning of the ninth 
century, is celebrated as a second Augustus. The sciences chiefly 
cultivated by the Arabians were, medicine, geometry, and astronomy, 
Thev improved the oriental poetry, by adding regularity to its fancy 
and fuxuriancy of imagery. 



t08 MODERN HISTORY. 

SECTIOjNT II. 
MONARCHY OF THP] FRANKS. 

1. The Franks were originally those tribes of Germans who inhab- 
ited the districts lying on tiie Lower Rhine and Weser, and who, in 
the time of Tacitus, passed under tlie names of Chauci, Cherusci, 
Catti, Sicambri, &,c. They assumed or received the appellation ot 
Franks^ or free-men, from their temporary imioa to resist "the domin- 
ion of the Romans. Legendary chronicles record a Pharamond and 
a Meroveus ; the latter the liead of the first race of the kings of France, 
termed the Merovingian ; but the authentic history of the Franks 
commences only with his grandson Clovis, who began his reign in 
the year 481. in the twentieth year of his age Clovis achieved the 
conquest of Gaul, by the defeat of Syagrius ihe Roman governor; 
and marrying Clotilda, daughter of Chilperic king of Burgundy, soon 
added that province to his dominions, by dethroning his father-in-law. 
He was converted by Clotilda ; and the Franks, till then idolaters, be- 
came christians,, after their sovereign's example. The Visigoths, 
professing Arianism, were masters at this time of Aquitaine, the coun- 
try between the Rhone and Loire. The intemperate zeal of Clovis 
prompted the extirpation of those heretics, Avho retreated across 
the Pyrenees into Spain; and thQ^jDrovincesof Aquitaine became part 
of the kingdom of the Franks. They did not long retain it, for The- 
odoric ther' great defeated Clovis in the battle of Aries, and adde<i 
Aquitaine to his dominions. Clovis died A. D. 51 1. 

2. His four sons divided the moiTii' : . ' "rpetually at 
war with one another. A series of u , ■ . :ce3 succeed- 
ed, and Gaul for some ages was charuc^.i,:. . ., w. ... I'rank sover- 
eigns by more than ancient barbarism. On th.o death of Dagobeii II, 
A. D. 638, who left two infant sons, the government, during their mi- 
nority, fell into the hands of their ciiief ollicers, termed mayors of the 
palace; and these. ambitious men founded a nev/ power, vvluch for 
some generations held the Frank sovereigns in absolute subjection, 
and left them little more than the title of king. Austrasia and INfeus- 
tria, the two great divisions of the Frank monarchy, were nominally 
governed by Thierry, but in realit}' by Pepin Heristel, mayor^of the 

fialace, who, restricting Ins sovereign to a sinall domain, ruled France 
or thirty years with great wisdom and good poiicy. His son, Charles 
Martel, succeeded to his power, and under asiinilar title governed for 
twenty-aix years with equal ability and success. He v/as victorious 
over all his domestic ibes. His arms kept in av»'e the surrounding 
nations, and he delivered France from the ravages of the Saracens, 
whom he entirely defeated between Tours and Poictiers, A. D. 732, 

3. Charles Martel bequeathed Ihe government i:>f l^'i^xnce^ as an un- 
disputed inheritance, to his two sons, Pepin ie brefand Carloman, 
who governed, under the same title of mayor, oae Austrasia, and the 
other Neustria and Burgundy. On the resignation of Carloman, Pepin 
succeeded to the sole administration. Ambitious of adding the title 
of king to the power ivhich he already enjoyed, he proposed tlie 
question to pope Zachary, whether he or his sovereign Childeric 
was most worthy of the throne ? Zachary, who had his interest in 
view, decided that Pepin had a i"ight to add the title of king to the 
office ; and Childeric was confined to a monastery for life. With 



MODERN HISTORY. , I09 

hira ended the first or Merovingian r<ace of the kings of F^rauce 
A. i). 751. ' ' 

4. l\'pin reconipniiscJ the service done him by the pope, bv turn- 
i:»g his anus agaiiist the Loiiibanls. He deprived them of tlie exar- 
chate ol" Ravenna, and made a donation of that and other considerable 
territories to the holy see. which were the rirst, as is alleged, of it/ 
temporal possessions. Conscious of his defective title, it was the 
principal object of Pepin le href to conciliate the affeciions of the 
people whom he governed. The legislative power among the Franks 
was vested in the people assembled in their dumips ae. Mars. Under 
the Merovingian race the regal authority had sunk to nothing, while 
the power of the nobles had attained to an inordinate extent. I'epin 
found it his best policy to acknowledge and ratify those rights, which 
he could not without dtmger have invaded ; and thus, under the char' 
acter of guardian of tite powers of all the orders of the state, he exalt 
ed thj regal olfice to its proper elevation, and founded it on the se- 
curest basis. On his deatii-bed lie called a council of the grandees 
and obtaujed their consent to a division of his kingdom between his 
two sons, Charles and Carloman. He died A. D. 768, at the age of 
fifty-three, after a reign of seventeen years from the death of Chil- 
deric III, and an administration of twenty-seven from the death of 
Charles Martel. 



SECTION 111. 

REFLECTIONS ON THE STATE OF FRANCE DURING THE 
MEROVINGIAN RACE OF ITS KINGS. ORIGIN OF THE 
FEUDAL SYSTEM. 

1. The manners of the Franks were similar to those of the other 
(lermanic nations described by Tacitus. Though under the command 
of a chief or king, their government was extremely democnitical, hikI 
they acknowledged no other than a military subordination. The legis- 
lative authority resided in the general assembly, or champs de Mars, 
held annually on the 1st day of March, a council in which the king 
had but a single suffrage, equally with the meanest soldier. But, 
when in arms against the enemy, his power was absolute in enforcing 
military discipline. 

2. After the establishment of the Franks in Gaiv! some changes took 
place from their new sitsation. They reduced the Gauls to absolute 
subjection ; yet they left many in possession of their lands, because the 
new country was too large for its conquerors. They leit them like- 
wise the use of their existing laws, which were those of the Roman 
code, while they themselves were governed by the sa/joueand npua- 
rian iaw*, ancient institutions in observance among the h ranks before 
they left their original seats in Germany. Hence arose that extraor- 
dinary diversity of local laws and usages in the kingdom of France, 
which continued down to modern times, and gave occasion to rvumbei- 
iess inconveniences. 

.3. The ancient Germans had the highest veneration for the pnests 
or druids. It was natural that the Fnmks, after their conversjon to 
Christianity, should have the same reverence for their bishops, to 
whom accordingly they allowed the first rank in the national as- 
sembly. These bishops were generally chosen Irom among the na- 
tive Gauls ; for, having adopted from this nation their new religion- 
it was uaturai that their priests should be chosen from the sauie peo^ 



no ' MOi)EUx\ HISTORY. 

pie, The influence of the clergy contributed much to ameliorate 
the condition of the conquered Gauls, and to humanize their conquer 
ors ; and in a short space of time the two nations were thoroughly in- 
corporated. 

4. At this period a new system of policy is visible among this unit- 
ed neople, which by degrees extended itself over niost of fhe nations 
of ^.urope. This ie the feudal system. By this expression is properly 
meant that tenure or condition on which tlie proprietors of land held 
their possessions, viz. , an obligation to peribrm mihtary service, 
whenever required by the chief or overlord to whom they owed al- 
legiance. 

Many modern writers attribute the origin of this institution or poli- 
cy to the Icings of the Franks, who, after the conquest of Gaul, are 
supposed to have divided the lands among their followers, on this 
condition of military service. But this notion is attended with insur- 
mountable difficulties. For, in the first place, it itroceeds on this false 
supposition, that the conquered lands belonged in propeity to the king, 
and* that he had the right of bestowing them in gifts, or dividing them 
among his followers ; whereas it is a certain fact, that among the 
Franks the partition of conquered lands was made by lot, a.s was tlie 
division even of the spoil or booty taken in battle ; and that the king''s 
share, though doubtless a larger portion than tiiat of his captains, was 
likewise assigned him by lot. Secondly, if we should suppose the king 
to have made those gifts to his captains out of his own domain, the 
creation of a very few bsaejicia {^benejices) would have rendered him 
a poorer man than his subjects. We must tiicrefore have recourse 
to another supposition for the origin of the hels; and we shall find 
that it is to be traced to a source much more remote than the Con 
.^'jest of Gaul by the Franks. 

b. Among all barbarous nations, with whom war is ihe chief occu- 
^jation, we remark a strict subordination of the members of a tribe to 
their chief or leader. It w^cS observed by Ca2sar as peculiarly strong 
dmong the Gaulish nations, and as subsisting not only between the 
sokliers and their commander, but between the inferior towns or vil- 
iages, and the canton or provinco to which they belonged. In peace 
every man cultivated his land, free of all taxation, and subject to no 
other burden but that of miUtary service^ when required by his chief 
When the province was at war, each village, though taxed to furnish 
only a certain number of soldiers, was bound to send^ on the day ap- 
pointed lor a general muster, all its males capable of bearing arms^ 
and from these its rated number was selected by the chief of the prov- 
ince. This diciitda {vassalage) subsisted among the Franks as well 
asi among the Gauls, it subsisted among the Romans, who, to check 
the inroads of the barbarian nations, and to secure their distant con- 
quests, were obliged to maintain tixed garrisons on their frontiers. 
To each officer in those garrisons it was customary to assign a poi- 
tion of land as the pledge and pay of his service. These gifts were 
termad 6e;ie/icia, and their proprietors btnejiciarii. Plin. Ep. lib. 10, 
ep. o2.. The beneficia were at first granted only for life. Alexander 
Severus allowed them to descend to heirs, on the lUie condition of 
military service. 

6. VVhen Gaul was overrun by the Franks, a great part of the lands 
was possessed on this tenure by the Roman soldiery, as the rest was 
by the native Gauls. The conquerors, accustomed to the samejioli- 
ey '^-^d'aji I'iturally adopt it in the partition of their new conquests; 
i*'/, JET?'?'; • = receiving his share, becoming bound to military service, 



MODEtLN HISTORY. HI 

as a condition necessarily annexed to territorial property. With 
respect to those Gauls who retained their pop«e«i=ions, no other 
change was necessary but to exact the same obligati'm of military 
vassalage to their new conquerors, which they had rendered to their 
former masters the emperors, and, before the Iloman conquest, to 
tlu.'ir native chieis. Thus no other change took place but that ol 
the overlord. The system was the same which had prevailed for 
ages. 

7. But these beneficia, or fiefs, wei'e personal grants, revocahle by 
the sovereign or overlord, and reverting to him on the death of the 
\assal. I'he weakness of the Frank kings of the Merovingian race 
emboldened the possessors of tiefs to aspire at independence and 
.security of property. In a convention held at Andeli in 587, to treat 
of peace between Gontran and Childebert II., the nobles ol liged 
these princes to renounce the right of revoking their benefices, 
which henceforward passed by inheritance to their eldest male issue. 

a. It was a necessary consequence cf a fief becoming perpetual and 
hereditary, that it should be capable of subinfeudation ; and that the 
vassal himselt", holding his land of the sovei'eign by the tenure of 
military service, should be enabled to create a train of inferior vas- 
sals, by giving to them portions of his estate to be held on the same 
condition, of following his standard in battle, rendering him homage 
as their lord, and paying, as the symbol of their subjection, a small 
•annual present, either of money or the fruits of their lands.' Thus, 
in a little time, the whole territory in the feudal kingdoms was either 
held immcdiuteiy and in capite of the sovereign himself, or mediately 
bj' inlV'rior vassals of the tenants in capite. 

9. It was natural in those disoixierly times, when the authority of 
governiP.ent and the obligation of general laws were extremely weak, 
that the superior or overlord should acquire a civil and criminal 
jurisdiction over his vassals. The- comitcs., to whom, as the chief 
magistrates of police, the administration of justice belonged of right, 
paid little attention to the duties of their office, and shamefully abused 
their powers. The inferior classes natui'ally chose, instead" of seek- 
ing justice throvgh this corrupted channel, to submit their lawsuits to 
the arbitration of their uycrioal ; and this jurisdiction, conferred at first 
by the p.cquiescence of ]>;!rtics, came at length to be regarded as 
founded on str'.ct right, flence arose a perpetual contest of jurisdic- 
tion between the greater bar )ns in their own territories aiid the es- 
tablished judicatories; a natural cause of that extreme anarchy and 
disorder \vhich prevailed in France during the greater part of the 
Mei'ovingian period, and sunk ihc regal authority to the lowest pitch 
of abasement. In a government cf which every part was at variance 
with the rest, it was not surprising that a new power should arise, 
which, in able hands, should be capable of bringing the whole under 
subjection. 

10. The mayor of the palace, or first officer of the honisehold, 
gradually usurped, under a scries of weak princes, fhe whole 
powers of the sovereign. This oilicc, from a personal dignity, be- 
came hereditary in tlie family of Pepin Heristel. His grandson, 
Pepin le bref, removed from the throne those phantoms of the Me- 
rovingian race, assumed the title of king, by the authority of a pa- 

fial decree, and reigned for seventeen years with dij^nity and success, 
le was the foundcj- of the second race of the French monarchs 
known by the name of the Carlovingian. See Kelt's Elements of 
General Knowledge, vol. L 



ilg • MODERN HISTORY. 

SECTION IV. 
CHARLEMAGNE. THE NEW EMPIRE OF THE WEST. 

1. PF.viy le bref^ with the consent of his nobles, divided, on his 
«kath-betl, the kingdom of France between his sons, Charles and 
Cariornan, A. D. 7G8. The latter died a tew years after his father, 
and Charles succeeded to the undivided sovereignty. In the couise 
of a reign ot" forty-tive ytai-s Charlamigne (foi so he was de- 
servedly styled) extended the limits of his empire beyond the Dan- 
ube ; subdued Dacia, Dalmatia, and Istria ; conquered and subjected 
all th» barbarous tribes to the banks of the Vistula ; made himself mas- 
ter of a great portion of Italy ; and successfully encountered the arms 
of the b';iracens, the Huns, the Bulgarians, and the Saxons. His 
war with the Saxons was of thirty years' duration, and their final 
conquest was not achieved without an inhuman waste of blood. At 
the request of the pope, and to discharge the obU^afionof his father 
l\;pin to the holy see, Charlemagne dispossessed Desiderius king of 
the Lombards ot all his dominions, though allied to him by marriage ; 
and put a final period to the Lombard dominion in Italy, A. D. "774. 

2. He made his entry into Rome at the festival of Easter, wa? 
there crowned king of France and of the Lomltards, and was, by 
pope Adrian I, invested with the right of ralilying the election ol 
the popes. Irene, empress of the east, sought to ally herself with 
Cliarlemagne, by the marriage of her sen Constantine to his daugh- 
ter; but her subsequent inhuman conduct, in putting Constantine to 
death, gave ground to suspect th.e sincerity of her desire for that 
alliance. 

6. In the last visit of Charlemagne to Italy he was consecrated 
pmperor of the west by the hands of pope ILJeo III. It is probable 
that if he had chosen Rome for his residence and seat of government, 
and at his ileath had transmitted to his successor an undivided domin- 
ion, 'the great but fallen empire of the west might have once more 
been restored to lustre and respect. But Charlemagne had no fixed 
capital, and divided, even in his lifetime, his dominions among his 
children, A. D. 8U6. 

4. The economy of government and the domestic administration 
of Charlemagne merit attention. Pepin le href had introduced the 
system of annual assemblies or parliaments, held at tirst in March, 
and afterwards in May, where the chief estates of clergy and nobles 
were called to deliberate on the public affairs and the wants of the 
people. Charlemagne apointed these assemblies to be held twice in 
tlie year, in spring and in autumn. In the latter assembly all atVairs 
»vere prepared and digested ; in the former was transacted the busi- 
ness ot legislation; and of this assembly he m;ule the people a party, 
by admitting from each province or district twelve deputies or rep- 
resentatives. The assembly now consisted of three estates, each of 
which Ibrmed a separate chamber, and discussed apart the concerns 
of its own order. They afterwards united to communicate their 
resolutions, or to deliberate on their common interests. The so\-e- 
reign was never present, unless when called to ra.tify the decrees ol 
the" assembly. 

5. Charlemagne divided the empire into provinces, and the prov- 
hices into distiicts, each comprehending a certain number of coun- 



MODERJ>i HiaTORY. 118 

ties. The districts were governed by royal envoys, chosen from the 
clergy and nobles, and bound to an exact visitation of their territories 
every three months. These envoys held annual conventions, at 
which '.vere present the higher clergy and barons, to discuss the 
affairs of the district, examine the conduct of its magistrates, and 
redress the grievances of individuals. At the general assembly, or 
cliatnp de Mai, the royal envoys made their report to the sovei-eign 
and statf's; and thus the public attention was constantly directed to 
all the •:oncerns of the empire. 

6. The private character of Charlemagne was most amiable and 
despcctable. His secretary, Eginhart, has painted his domestic life 
iti beautiful and simple colours. The economy of his family is char- 
acteristic of an age of great simplicity ; for his daughters were as- 
siduously employed rn spinning and housewifery, and the sons were 
trained by their fathei' in the practice of all manly exercises. This 
illustrious man died A. ]>. 814, in the seventy-second year of his age. 
Contemporary with him was Haroun Alraschid, caliph of the Sara- 
cens, equally celebrated for his conquests, excellent policy, and the 
wisdom rod humanily of his government. 

7. Of all the lawful sons of Charlemagne, Lewis the debonnaire 
was the only one who survived him, and who therefore succeeded 
wii.hout dispute to all the imperial dominions, except Italy, which 
the emperor had settled on Bernard, his grandson by Pepin, his 
second son. 



SECTION V. 

MANNERS, GOVERNMENT, AND CUSTOMS OF THE AGE OF 
CHARLEMAGNE. 

1. In establishing the provincial conventions under the royal 
envoys, Charlemagne did not entirely abclish the authority of 'the 
ancient chief magistrates, the dukes and counts. They continued 
to command the troops of the provihce, and (o make the levies in 
etated numbers from each district. Cavalry were not numerous m 
the imperial armies, twelve farms being taxed to furnish only one 
horseman ^vith his armour and accoiitrements. The province sup- 
plied six months'' provisions to'its complement of Jiien, and the king 
maintained them during the rest of the campaign. 

2. The engines for the attack and deli^nce of towns were, as in 
former times, the ram, the balista, cat^'pulta, testudo, &c. Charle- 
magne had his ships of war stationovf in the mouths of all the larger 
rivers. {He bestowed great attention on commerce* The merchants 
of Italy and the soutli of France trr.ded to the Levant, and exchanged 
the commodities of Europe and Asia. Venice and Genoa were 
rising into cemmerrial opulence; and the manufactures of wool, glass, 
and iron, were successfully cultivated in many of the principal towns 
in the south of Europe 

3. The value of money was nearly the same as in the Roman 
empire in the age of Constantino the great. The numerary Uvre, 
in the age of Charlemagne, was supposed to he a pound of silver, in 
value about 31. sterling of English money. At present the livre is 
worth K) l-2d. English. Hence we ought to be cautious in forming 
our estimate of ancient money from its name. From the want of 

6 



Ii4 MODERN HISTORY. 

Jhis caution have arisen the most erroneous ideas of the commerce, 
riches, and strength of the ancient kingdoms. 

4. I'he capitnlana {stdt alt-books) of Charlemagne, compiled into a 
body A. 1). ii27, were recovered from oblivion in 1531 and 1515 
Tlicy present ma-iy circumstances illust.-ative of the manners of the 
times. Unless in great cities there were no inns : tlie laws obliged 
every man to give accommodation to travellers. The chief towns 
were huilt of wood. The state of tiie mechanic arts was veiy low 
in Europe. The Saracens had made more progress in them. Paint- 
ing and sculpture were only preserved irom absolute extinction by 
the existing remains of ancient art. Charlcmngne appears to have 
been anxious for the improvement of music; and the Italians are said 
to have instructed his Irench performers in the art of playing on the 
organ. Architecture was studied and successfully cuitivatetl in that 
style termed (the Gothic,\ which admits of great beauty, elegance, 
anil magniiicehr.e. The composition ot Mosaic appears to have been 
an invention of those ages. 

3. Tne knowledge of letters Wfis extremely low, and confined to a 
few of the ecclesiastice. Charlemagne gave the( utmost ei.courage- 
ment to literature and the sciences,s inviting info his dominions of 
France, men eminent in those departments Irom Italy, and from the 
Britannic isles, which, in those dark ages, preserved more of the 
light of learning than any of the western kingdoms. " jVeqiie eiiiin 
adenda bus Britaimiie^ Scotix^ ct liiljernw^ qiue studio liberaliuin artium 
CO tempore aniecellehaiit reUquis occidenhilib ,s regiiis ; d cum pnesertini 
moiuickorum^ qai literaruiii gloriam, alibi aul kmguentein aid depressain^ 
in lis regionibus iinpigre smcitabant atque imbantur.''' Murat. Antiq. 
Ital. Diss. 43. "• I mast not omit the praise due to EiiglcDuL Scotkmd, 
and Ireland, which at that time excelled the other western kingdoms in the 
study of' the liberal arts ; and especially to the monks, by whose care and 
diligence the honour of literature, wliich in other countries was either 
languishing or depressed, was revived and protected in these."' The 
sca'-city ol' books in those times, and the nature of their subjects, 
as legends, lives of the saints, iic, evince tlie narrow diffusion of 
literature. 

G. The pecuniary fines for homicide, the ordeal or judgment of 
Ciod, and judicial combat, were striking peculiarities in tie laws and 
manner: of the northern nations, and particularly of the Franks. By- 
this warlike, barbarous people, revenge was esteemed honouralde and 
meritorious. TUe high-spirited Avarrior chastised or vindicated with 
his own hand the injuries which he had received or indicted. Tlie 
magistrate interfered, not to punish, but to reconcile, and was satisfied 
if he could persuade the aga^ressor to pay, and tlie injured party to 
:iccept, the moderate fine whicK was imposed as the price ol' Idooil, 
and of which the measure was estimated according to the rank, the 
sex. and the country of the person slain. But increasing civi.ization 
abolished those barbarous distinctions. We have remarked the equal 
severity of the laws ol' the Visigoths, in the crime*- of murder and 
robbery; and even amoiig the I'ranks, in the age of Charlemagne, 
deliberate murder was punished with death. 

7. By their ancient laws, a parly accused of any crime was al- 
lowed to produce compurgators, or a certain numbei of witnesses, 
according to the measure of the off^•lce ; and if these declared 
upon oath their belief of his innocence^ it was held a sufiicient excnr- 
pution. Seventy-two compurgators were required to acquit a mur- 
^prer or an incendiary. The flagrant peijuries occasioned by tills 



MODEKiN HISTORY. 115 

absurd practice probably gave rise loi the trial bj' ordeal.Whicli was 
termed, as it was believed to be, the j\Klgnier.t of' God. The crimi- 
nal wa'i ordered, at the option ot" the judge, to prove his innocence 
or guilt, bv the ordeal ot' cold water, oC boiling water, or red hot 
iron, lie was tied hand and foot, and thrown into a pool, (o sink or 
sv.-im; he was made to fetch a ring Irom I'he bottom of a vessel ot 
boiling water, or to walk barefooted everburning ploughshares. His- 
tory records examples of those wonderful experiments having been 
ma'de without injury or pain. 

8. Another peculiarity of the laws and manners of the northern 
nations was judicial con^.bat. Both in civil suits and in the trial of 
crimes, the party destitute of legal proois might challenge his antag- 
onist to mortal combat, and rest the cause upon its issue. I'his san- 
guinary and most iniquitous custom, which may be traced to this day 
in the practice of duelling, had the authority of law in the court oi 
the constable and marshal, even in the last century, in France and 
England. 



SECTION VI. 

RKTROSPECTIVE VIEW OF THE AFFAIRS OF THE CHURCH 
BEFORE THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE. 

1. fiHE Arian and Pelagian heresiesulivided the christian church 
for many ages. In the fourih century, Arius, a pre-sbyier of Alexan- 
dria, maintained the separate and inierior nature of the second per- 
son of the trinity, regardins; Christ as the noblest of created beiiigs, 
through whose agency the Creator had foimed the universe. H.s 
doctrine was condemned\in tlie council of Nice, held by Coiistantine 
A. D. 325, who afterwards became a convert to it. For many cen- 
turies u had an extensive intluence, and produced tlio sects of liie 
Eunomians, Semi-Arians, Fusebians, &,c. 

2. In the beginning oi the fifth century Pelagius and Ca;lestius, 
the former a native of Britain, the latter of Ireland, denied the d< c- 
triue of original sin, and the necessity of divine grace to enlighten 
the understanding, and purify the heart ; and maintained the sufli- 
ciency of m;m's natural powers for the attainment of the highest 
degrees of piety and virtue. These tenets were ably combated by 
St. Augustine, am' condemned by an ecclesiastical council, but have 
ever continued to find many supporters. ^ 

3. Th'> most obstinate source of controversy in those ages^vas the 
worship of images! a practice which was at tii-st oi)posed by the 
clergy, hut was afiervvards, from i?iierested motives, countenanced 
anil » iiiiiicated by them. It was, however, long asuhj.'ct ot division in 
the church. The emperor Leo the Isamian, A. J). 727, atteinpleil 
to suppress this itlolatry. by the deslrurtidn ci every Ptat.ite and ijio 

• ture found in the churches, and by punishment of their vvorsuippers: 
but this intemperate zeal rather increased than repressed the super- 
stition, i^is son Const;intine Copronyraus, with wiser policy, pro- 
cured its condemnation hy the church. 

4. From the doctrines of the Platonic and Stoic philosojihy, 
whi^ii recommended the pnrihcation of the soul, by redeeming it 
from its subjection to the sensesj arose the system ol' penances, mor- 
titication, religious sequestration; and monachism. Alter Constantine 
bad put an end to the persecution of the christians, many conceived 



116 MUJJJ^iiiN HibTOKY. 

it a duty to procure for themselves voluntary grievances and suller- 
ijigs. They retired into caves and hermitages,, and there practised 
the most rigorous mortitications of the tlesn. by tasting, scourging, 
vigils, &c. This plirensy tirst snowed itself in Egypt in the fourth 
century, whence it spread over all the east, a great part of Africa, 
a!ul within the limits of the bisliopric of Rome, in the time of Tl.e- 
odosius these devotees b3gan to form communities or cmiobia, each 
associate bimling himself l»y oath to observe the rules of his order. 
yt. B^netlict introduced monacbism into Italy, under the reign of 
Totila ; and his order, the Benedictine, soon became extremely nu- 
nieious and opulent. Many I'ich donations were made by the devout 
and cliaritable, who believed tliaL they profited by the prayers of the 
monks. Benedict sent colonies hito bicily and France, whence they 
soon spread over all Europe. 

5. hi the east, the ///o/fac/ii»'oH/«rH(solitary monks) were tirst incor- 
porated into cteiiobia by St. Basil, bishop of Ccssarc^i, in the middle of 
the fourth century; and some time before that period the lirst monas- 
teries for women were founiied in Egypt by the sister of St. Pacouio. 
From these, in the foUo^ving age, s])rung a varietj' of orders, under 
dilferent rules. The rule of the canons regular was framed after the 
model of the apostolic life. To chastity, obedience, and poverty, the 
mendicants added the obligation of begging alms. The military reli- 
gious onlers were unknown till the age of the holy wars. (Sect. XVII, 
^ 3.) The monastic fraternities owed their reputation chiefly to the 
little literary knowledge which, in those ages of ignorance, they ex- 
clusively possessed, (i'or the origin of monachism, see Varieties of 
Lilerat-.re.) 

6. In the hfth century arose a set of fanatics termed siylitcs, or pil- 
tar-saints, who passed their lives on the lops of pillars of various height. 
Simeon of Syria lived thirty-seven years, and died on a pillar sixty 
feet high. This phrensy prevailed in the east for many centuries. 
(For a curious account of the fanaticism of the Hindoos, see Tennaut's 
Indian Recreations.) 

7./Auricuiar confession^ which had beer, abrlished in the east in 
the 'fourth century, began to be in use in the west in the age of Char- 
lemagne, and has ever since prevailed in the Romish church. The 
canonization of saints was, for near twelve centuries, practised by ev- 
ei'y bishop. Pope Alexander III, one of the most vicious of men, 
first claimed and assumed this right, as the exclusive privilege of the 
successor of St. Feter.^ 

8. The conquests of Charlemagne jspread Christianity in the north 
of Europe; but all beyond the limits'^of bis conquests was i.:lolatrous. 
Britain and Ireland had received the light of Christianity at an earlier 
])eriod ; but it was at'terwards extinguished, and again revucd under 
the Saxon heptarchy. 



SECTION VII. 

EMPIRE OF THE WEST UNDER THE SUCCESSORS OF CHAR- 
LEMAGNE. 

1. Thil empire of Charlemagne, raised and supported solely by his 
.ribilities, fell to pieces under his weak postei'ity. ■Le^vis {te ileboiuwire)^ 
the only survivor of his lawful sons, was consecrated emperor and 
king of the Franks at Aix la Chapelle, A. D. 816. Among the first 



MODERN HISTORY. m 

acta of his reign was the partition of his dominions among his children. 
To Pepin, hi.-s second son, he gave Aquitaine,a third part of the south 
o{ France ; to Lewis, the youngest, Ravaria ; and he associated hia 
eldest son Lotharins with himseh'in tlie government of the rest. The 
three princes quarrelled amon;^ themselves, agreeing in nothing hut 
m hostility, against their father. They made open war against him, 
supported hy j.ope Gregory IV. Thepretcnce was, that the emper- 
or having a younger son, Charles, born after this partition of his 
states, wanted to give him likewise a shax'e, which could not be done 
but at the expense of his eldor brothers. Lewis was compelled to 
surrender himself a prisoner to his rebellious sons. They contined 
him tor a year to a monastery, till, on a new quarrel between Lewis 
the younger and Pepin, Lotliarius once more restored his father to 
the throne: but his spirits were broken, his health decayed, and he 
finished, soon after, an inglorious and turbulent reign, A. D. 840. 
2. The dissensions of the brothers still continued. Lotharius, now 
I emperor, and Pepin his brother's son, having taken up arms against 
I the two other sons of Lewis Ic debonnaire^ Lewis of Bavaria and 
I Charles the bald, were defeated by them in the battle of Fontenai, 
I where lOU.OUU are said to have fallen in the field. The church in 
' those times was a prime organ of the civil policy. A council of bish- 
1 ops immediately assembled, and solemnly deposed Lotharius. At the 
same time they assumed an equal authority over his conquerors, 
j whom they permitted to reign, on the express condition of submissive 
|. obedience to the supreme spiritual authority. Yet Lotharius, though 
i excommunicated and deposed, found means to accommodate matters 
with his brothers, who agreed to a new partition of the empire. By 
the treaty of Verdun, A. D. 843, the western part of France, termed 
j Neustria .ind Aquitaine, was assigned to Charles the bald ; Lotharins, 
1 with the title of emperor, had the nominal sovereignty of Italy, and 
1 the real territory ot Lorraine, Franche Compte, Provence, and the 
I Lyonnois; the share of Lewis was the kingdom of Germany. 
I • 3. Thus was Germany finally separated from the empire of the 
i Franks. On the death of LiOtharius, Charles the bald assumed the 
empire, or, as is said, purchased it from pope John Vill, on the con- 
I dilion ot' holding it as a vassal to the holy see. This prince, after a 
weak ami inglorious reign, died by poison, A. D. 877. He was the 
tii'st of the French monarchs who made dignities and titles hereditary. 
Under the distracted reigns of the Carlovingian kings, the nobles at- 
tained great power, and commanded a formidable vassalage. They 
strengthened themselves in their castles and fortresses, and bid deh- 
ance to the arm of government, while the country was ravaged and 
desolated by their feuds. 

4. In the reign of Charles the bald, France was plundered by the 
Normans, a new race of Goths from Scandinavia, who had begun 
their depredations even in the time of Charlemagne, and were only 
checked in their progress by the terror of his arms. A. D. 843 they 
s:iiled up the Seine, and plundered Rouen ; while another tleet enter- 
ed the Loire, and laid waste the country and its vicinity, carrying, 
toj4 'thsr with its spoils, men, women, and children, into captivity, 
hi liie follouing year they attacked the coasts of England, France 
and Spain, but were repelled Irom the last by the good conduct anc! 
courage of its Mahometan rulei's. in 845 they entered the Elbe, 
plundered Hamburgh, and penetrated far into Germany. Eric, king 
of Denmark, who commanded these Normans, sent once more a tieet 
into the Seine, which advanced to Paris. Its inhabitants fled, and the 



118 MODERN HISTORY. 

city wa« burnt. Another fleet, v/ith little resistance, pilhgerl Bour- 
fleaux. To avert the arnn.s of these ravjigers, Charles the bald hiib^d 
them with money, and his successor, Charles the gross, yielded them 
a part of his Flemish dominions. These were only incentives to 
fresh depredation. Paris was attacked a second time, but gallantly 
de'ended by count Odo or Eudes, and the venerable bishop Goslin. 
A truce'was a second time concluded ; but the barbarians only chang- 
ed the scene of their attack : they besieged Sens, and plundered 
Burgundy. An assembly of the slates held at Mentz deprsed the 
unworthy Charles, and conferred the crown on tije more deserving 
! Ji.ies : who, during a reign often years, bravely withstood the Nor- 
mans. A great part of the states of France, however, refused his 
title to the crown, and gave their allegiance to Charles surnamed the 
simple. 

5. Hollo, the Norman, in 912, compelled the king of France to 
yield him a large portion of the territory of Neustria, and to give 
him his daughter in marriage. The new kingdom was now called 
Normandy, of which Rouen was the capital. 



SECTION VIII. 

CMPIRE OF THE EAST DURING 'illE EIGHTH AND NINTH 

CENTURIES. 

1. Whilk the new empire of the west was thus rapidly tending 
to dissolution, the empire of Constantinople still retained a vcst'ge ;>i 
its ancient grandeur. It had lost its African and Syrian dependencies, 
an! was plnnilered by the Saracens on the eastern tron^ier, and rav- 
aged on the north and west ny the Aban and Bulgariansi The capi- 
tal, though splendid and refined, Vv'as a constant scene of rebellions 
•iud conspiracies ; and the imperial family itself exhibited a series of 
the most horrid crimes and atrocities. One emperor was put to 
death in revenge of murder and incest; i.nother was poisoned by his 
queen; a third was assassinated in the lath by his own domestics; ^a: 
fourth tore out the eyes of his brot.hcr ;.the empress Irene, respeclaf' 
ble for her talents, waSj infamouslfor the murder of her only son.i 
Of such complexion vvas'that seriee of princes who swayed the scep- 
tre of the east nearly 200 yeare. 

2. In the latter part of this period a most violent controversy v.;).s 
maintained respecting. the worship of images, which were alternately 
destroyed and replaced according to ♦he humour of llie sovcreii'.n. 
The fen;ale sex was their most zealous snp})orter. This was not thei| 
oidy subject of division in the christian church ; the doctrines of Man-ij 
iciies were then extremely prevalent, and the sword was frequent-i 
]y employed to support and propagate their tenets. 

3. The misfortunes of the empire were increased by an invasion 
of the Russians from the Pahis Mosotis and Euxine. In the reign of 
Leo. named the philosopher, the Turks, a new race of barbarians, of 
Scythifin or Tartaiian breed, began to make eflectual inroads on ib 
territories. About the same time its domestic calamities were aggra-i| 
vated by the separation of the Greek from the Latin cliurch, ofil 
which we shall treat under the following section. 



MODEK^ HISTORY. 11» 

SPXTION IX. 

STATE OF THE CHURCH IN THE EIGHTH AND NINTH 
CENTURIES. 

1. Thk popes had begun to acquire a temporal authority under 
Pepin le bref and Charlemagne, IVom the donations of territory 
made by those princes, and they wire no-.v ^M-adn.ally extending a 
spridtual jurisdiction over all the clii-i^tiaii i/aiiidonis. JXicliolas 1. 
proclaimed' to tlie whole world his paraniouut judgment in appeal 
fiom the sentences of all spiritual judicatories; \m powei of as- 
sembling councils of the church, and of reguluLing il by the canons 
of those councils; the right of exci-cising his aulliorily by legates in 
all the kingdoms of Europe, and the control of the pope over all 
princes and governors. Liierary imposture gave its support to these 
pretences. Certam spurious epistles were written in the name of 
Isidorus, with the design oi' proving the justice of the chums ol' the 
pope, and the tbrgcry of iliose epi.-lles was not completely exix::^cd 
''i:i '!ie sixteenth century. Among the prerogatives of itic jiopt's was 
I 1 legulation of the marriages of all the crowned heads, by the- 
eAiierne extension of the nroiubilions of the cauoi. law, wiih winch 
they alone had the power of dispensing. 

2. One extraordinary even-t (if true) afforded,' in the ninth cen- 
tury, a ludicrous interruption to tiie ' * >' ■ cession of regular 
bishops from the days of JSt. Peter, i ol' a female pope, 
who is said to have ably governed i; Ir three years, tilJ 
detected by the birth of a, child. ': imation by L.uthet 
this event was not roj^arJ-'d bv th'' iiaci'edible, nor dib- 
graceful to the churcii: since ihai: ::; ^.■.\\ or fdsehcod has 
been the subject of keen cona-o\-ei-sy ueuvi-j'.i u.e ;;reiesianH a: d 
eaihohcs; and the cvitlcnco tor its fdsohood seems io [.rei.Dudi'iaU'. 

3. The church was thus gradua.ily exteiuiiii^- its inljuence. and 
its head arrogating (he control ever sovereign prie.eey, who, by a 
singular interchange of character, sr'f-in, in tUuse a,<^es, lo ha\e 
iixed their chief attention on spirit',;,.; . Kini,s, dukes, and 
counts, neglecting their temporal di; iiiselvc s up in clois- 
ters, and spent their lives in pray^i nee-. F.cclesiasiics 
were employed in all the departmer.ts ei' sceufir government; and 
they alone conducted all public measures aaid stale negotiations, 
wdiich of course they directed to the great objects of advancing the 
interests of the church, and establishing the paramount authority of 
the holy see. 

4. At this period, however, when the popedom seemed to have 
attained its highest ascendancy, it snft'ered a severe wound in that 
remarkable schism winch ■separated the patriarchates of Ixome and 
Constantinople, or the Greek and Latin cbtnT.hcs./ The Roman pon- 
tiff had hitherto claimed the right of nominating the patriarch of 
Constantinople. The emperor IMichae! 111. denied this right, and de- 

• poking the pope's patriarch, Ignatius, a.ppointcd the celebrated Photius 
in his stead. Pope JNicholas 1. resented this affront with a high spirit, 
anil deposed and excommunicated f-'hotius, A. I). 8G3, who, in his 
turn, pronounced a similar sentence against the pope. The church 
was divided, each patriarch being supported by many bishops and 
♦heir dependent clergy. The Greek and Latin bishops had long 



130 MODEK.N illSTOKV. 

differed in many points of practice and discipline, as tlie celibacy of 
the clergy, tlie shaving of ineir beards, &c. ; but in reality the prime 
source of division was the ambition of the rival pontitfs, and the jeal- 
ousy of the Greek emperors, xunvilling to admit tlie control of 
Rome, and obstinately asserting e\'ery prerogative which they con- 
ceived to be annexed to the capital of the Roman empire. As nei- 
ther party would yield in its pretensions, the division ol the Greek 
and Latin churches became from this time permanent. 

5. Amid those ambitious contests for ecclesiastical power and pre- 
eminence, the christian religion itself was disgraced, both by the 
practice and by the principles of its teachers. Worldly ambition, 
gross voluptuousness, and grosser ignorance, characterized all ranks 
of the clergy ; and the open sale of benetices placed them ot\en in 
the hands ot'the basest and most protligate of men. Yet the charac- 
ter of Photius forms an illustrious exception. Though bred a states- 
man and a soldier, and in both these respects of grea< reputation, he 
atkiined, by his singular abilities, learning, and worth, the highest 
dignity of the church. His Bibliotheca is a monument of the most 
various knowledge, erudition, and critical judgment. 



SECTION X. 

OF THE SARACENS IN THE EIGHTH AND NINTH CENTURIES. 

1. In the beginning of the eighth century the Saracens subverted 
(he monarchy of the Visigoths in Spain, and easily overran tlie coun- 
try. They had lately iounded in Africa the empire of Morocco,, 
which wasgoverned by Muza, viceroy of the caliph Valid Almanzor, 
Muza sent his general Tariph into Spain, who, in one memorable 
b:Utle, fought A. I). 713, stripped the Gothic king Rodrigo of his 
ciown and life. The conquerors, satisfied with the sovereignty of 
the country, let't the vanquished Goths in possession of their proper- 
ly, laws, and religion. Abdallah the Moor married the widow of 
llodrigo, and the two nations formed a perfect union. One small 
part of the rocky country of Asturia alone adhered to its christian 
prince, Pelagius, who maintained his little sovereignty, and transmit- 
ted it inviolate to his successors. 

2. The Moors pushed their conquests beyond the Pyrenees ; but 
division arising among their emirs, and civil wars ensuing, Lewis 
le -debonnaire took advantage of the turbulent state of the country, 
and invaded and seized Barcelona. The Moorish sovereignty in the 
north of Spain was weakened by throwing off its dependence on 
the caliphs ; and in this juncture the christian sovereignty of the 
Asturias, under Alphonso the chaste, began to make vigorous en- 
croachments on the territory of the Moors. Navarre and Arragon, 
roused by this example, chose each a christian king, and boldly as- 
serted their liberty and independence. 

3. While the Moors of Spain were thus losing ground in the north, 
ihey were highly flourishing in the southern parts of the kingdom. 
Abiialrahman, the last heir of the family of the Ommiades (the 
Acassidae now enjoying the caliphate), was recognized as the true 
representative of the ancient line by the southern Moors. He fixed 
the seat of his government at Cordova, which, for two centuries from 
that time, was the capital of a splendid monarchy. This period, 
from the middle of the eighth to the middle of the tenth century, 



MODERN HISTORY. 121 

is the most brilliant sera of Arabian magniticence. Whilst Haroun 
Almschid made Bagdat illustrious by the splendour of the arts and 
Rciences. the Mooi-s of Cordova vied with their brethern of Asia 
in the same lionourable pursuits, and were undoubtedly at this period 
the most enlightened of the states of Europe. Under a series of 
able princes they gained the highest reputation, both in arts and 
arms, of all the nations of the west. 

4. The Saracens were at this time extending their conquests in 
almost every quarter of the world. The Mahcmet^m religion was 
professed over a great part of India, and all along the eastern and 
Mediterranean coast of Africa. The African Saracei.s invaded 
Sicily., and projected the conquest of Italy. They actually laid 
siege to Rome, which was nobly defended by pope Leo IV. They 
u'eie repulsed, th'^ir ships were dispersed by a storm, and their army 
was cut to pieces, A. D. 848. 

6. The Saracens might have raised an immense empiie, if they 
hafi acknowledged only one head ; but their states were always dis- 
united. Egypt, Morocco, Spain, and India, had all their separate 
sovereigns, 'w]\o continued to respeci. the caliph of Bagdat as the 
surcessor of the prophet, but acknowledged no temporal subjection 
to his government. 



SECTION XI. 

EMPIRE OF THE WEST AND ITALY IN THE TENTH AND 

ELEVENTH CENTURIES. 

1. Thk empire founded by Charlemagne now subsisted only in 
name. Arnold, a bastard son of Carloman, possessed Germany. 
Italy was divided between Guy duke of Spoletto and Berengarius 
duke of Fiiidi, who had received these duchies fi-om Charles the 
bald. France, though claimed by Arnold, was governed by Eudes 
'J'hus the empire in reality consisted only of a part of Germany, 
while France, Spain, Italy, Burgundy, and tlie countries between the 
Maes and Rhine, were all subject to diilercnt powers. The emper- 
ors were at this time elected by llie bishops and grandees, all ol 
whom claimed a voice. In this manner Lewis the son of Arnold, 
the last cf the blood of Charlemagne, was chosen emperor after the 
death of his father. On his demise Otho duke of Saxony, by his 
credit with his brother grandees, conferred the empire on Conrad 
duke of Franconia, at whose death Henry surnamed the fowler, son 
of the same duke Otho, was elected emperoi", A. D. 918. 

2. Henry I. (the Ibwler), a prince of great abilities, introduced 
order and good government into the empire. He united the gran- 
dees, and curbed their usurpations; built, embellished, and fortihed 
the ciiies; and enforced with great rigour the execution of the laws 
in the lepression of all enormiiies. He had been consecrated hj 
his o\vn bishops, and maintained no correspondence w ith the see o* 
Rome. 

3. His son Otho (the great), A. D. 938, again united Italy to the 
empire, and kept the popedom in complete subjection. He made 
Denmark tributary to the imperial crown, annexed the crown ot Bo- 
hemia to his own dominions, and seemed to aim at a pauunouut 
autl:iority over ail the sovereigns of Europe. 



122 IMODERN HISTORY. 

4. Olho owed his ascendancy in Italy to the disorders of the p.i- 
pary. Formosiis. nvice excninmunicaten l»y pope .John Nil!., iinf 
uirived at the triple crown. Oil [lU dealn iii-s rival, pope Stpplintj 
VII., caused his body lo lie dug out oi the gr.ne, and, al'ier tri d tor 
his crimes, condemned it to t)e dung into the 'l'i!)er. The iVi-'uis of 
Formo.sus had interest to procure the deposiiion of Stephen, who 
was strangled in prison. They sought and ii)!ind ids body, and 
buried it. A succeeding pope, Sergius ill., agaiti dug up thi-; id-filed 
carcase, and threw it into the Tiber. Two int'imous wont^n, Aiacoy.ia 
and 'I'heodora, managed for many years the j)opedom, #id ilifd v.u^ 
diairof St. Peter with their own gallants, or their ifitiiiteroiis ( M- 
spring. Such was the state of the holy see, wdien JjeiStMigai-iiis duki' 
of Friuli disputed the sovereignty of Italy wi;h liugh of .\r,(s. 
The Italian slates and pope .John XII., who took } art against iiercn- 
garius, invited Olho to compose the disorders of the country, lie 
entered it;dy, deleated Berengarius, and was consecrated emju're! 
by the pope, with the titles of Cfesar and Augustus; in retiu'n tut 
which honours he contlrmed the donaiions made to the holy see by 
Ids predecessors, Pepin, Chailemagne, and Lewis the debonnaire, 
A. 1). d62. 

5. But John XII. was fdse to his new ally. Ho made his peace 
with Berengariu>^, and both turned their arms against die emperor. 
Otlio liew back to .Home, and revenged himsell' by the trial and 
deposition of the pope ; but he had scarcely lelt the cily, wUv.i) 
Jonn, by the aid of his party, displaced his rival Leo Vlfl. Otho 
once more returned, and took exemplary vengeance on his enemies, 
by hanging one half cf the senate. Calling together the lateran 
council, he crerded a new jiope, and obtained from the assembUMJ 
bi*hops a solemn acknowledgment of the absolute right of the em- 

i)eror to elect to the papacy, to give the investiture of the crown n{ 
taiy, and to nominate to all vacant bishoprics ; concessions observed 
no longer than while the emperor was present to enforce them, 

G. Such was the state of Home and Italy umler Otiso tlie great; 
and it continued to be much the same under his successors tor a cen- 
tury. The emperors asserted their sovereignty over Italy and the 
popedom, though with a constant resistance on the pait of the 
komans, and a general repugnance of the pope, when oncj establish- 
ed. In those ages of ecclesiastical protiiga'^y it was not unusual tj 
P'lt up the popedom to sale. Benedict VIll. and .John XIX., Iwo 
brothers, pubhcly bojght the chair of St. Peter, one alter the other; 
and, to keep it in their fimily, it :vas purchased ai'tsrwards by their 
friends tor Benedict IX., a child of twelve years of ag»'. 'I'hree 
popes, each preteniling regular election and equal right, agreed fust 
to divide the revenues between them, and afterwards sold all theii 
sha.'-es to a fourth. 

7. The emperor Henry III., a prince of groat ability, strcnuonpiy 
vindicated his light to supply the ponti.icul chair, and created three 
successive popes without opposition. 



MODERN HISTORY. 123 



SECTION XII. 



HIHTOlli OP bRITAI.V FROM ITS EARLlEaT PUUOD DOWN 
TO THE iNOllMAN CONQUEST. 

1. 'I'liK history of ]}rit;iin h;is (teen postponed to lliis time, that il 
mnv Ix; coiisidci'cd in rnc connprterl view Irom its e.'irliest period to 
llie end ol' liie Anglo-S;ixoii government. 

We s(ri\-e not to pierce throujsjh tlv.it mist of ohscuriiy whirli veils 
the criginiu |)opiil;Uion of the British isles: remarking onlj,asa mat- 
ter of iiigh probability, that they derived tlieir first inhabitant- fn in 
tlie Cellar of Gaul. Their autheniic history commences with the lirst 
Roman invasion,- and we learn Irom Ca'sar and Tacitus, tiiat (he 
country was at that period in a stale very remote from barbarism. 
It was divided into a number of small independent sovereignties, each 
prince having a regular army and a lixed revenue. The manners, 
iangua.u;o, and leligion of the people, were the rame as those of the 
Ganic Ccltie. Tiie religion was the _d'-uidical system, whose in- 
iluence pervaded every department of the governtrietit, and, by fl.s 
nower over the mii.ds of tlie people, supplied the imperleclion of 
laws. 

2. Julius Caesar, after the Cf>nquest of Gaul, turned his eyes 
towards Britain. He landed on the southern coast ot the island, bb 
A. C. ; and meeting with most obstinate resistance, though on the 
whole gaining some advantage, he found himself obliged, after a 
siiort c-impaign, to withdraw tor the winter into Gaul. He returned 
in the loilowing summer with a great increase of force, an army o! 
2U,0U0 foot, a competent body ofliorse, and a tleet ol"8UU sail, 'i'he 
independent chiefs of the Britons united their forces under Ca-ssibe- 
fanus king of the Trinobanles, and encountering the legions with 
great resolution, displayod all ihe ability of practised warriors, liut 
the coniest was vain. Caesar advanced into the country, burn: Veru- 
lamium, the capital of Cassibelanus, and, after ibrcing the Britons 
into articles of submission, retuined to Gaul. 

3. The domestic disorders of Italy gave tranquillity to the Britons 
for near a century ; but, in the reign of Claudius, the conquest of the 
island was determined. The emperor lande^' in Britain and com- 
pelled the submission of the south-eastern provinces. Ostorius Scapula 
defeated Caractacus, ^vho was sent prisoner to Rome. Suetonius 
Paulinus, the general of Nero, destroyed Wona (Anglesey, or as 
others think, [ilan), the centre of the druidical superstition. The 
Iceni (inhabitants of Norfolk and Sufiolk), under their queen Boadicea, 
attacked several of the Roman settlements. London, with its Roman 
gariison, was burnt to ashes. But a decisive battle ensued, in which 
80,UUU of the Britons fell in the held, A. D. 61. Thirty years afier 
hi the reign of Titus, the reduction of the island was completed by 
tiie Uomaii general, Julius Agricola. He secured the Roman prov 
ince against hivasjon irom the Caledonijiiis, by walls and garrisons; 
and reconciled the southern inhabitants to the government of their 
conquerors, by the introduction of Roman arts and improvements. 
Uiider Sevcrus the Ronrin province was extended far into the north 
of Scotland. 

4. With the decline of the Roman power in the west, the 
southern Britons recovered their liberty, but it was only to become 



124 MODERN HISTORY. 

the object of incessant predatory invasion from their brethren of the 
north. The Romans, after rebuilding tlie wn!l of Severiis, finally hid 
adieu to Britain, A. D. 448. The Ticts and Ca!edoni:ins now broke 
down upon the south, ravaging and desolating the country, without a 
purpose of conquest, and merely, as it appears, for the supply of their 
temporary wants. After repeated application for aid from Rome 
without success, the Britons meanly solicited the Saxons tor succour 
and protection. 

5. The Saxons received the embassy with great satisfaction. Brit- 
ain hail been long known to them m their piratical voyages to its 
coasts. They landed to the amount of 1,600, under the command of 
Hcngist and Horsa, A. D. 460 ; and joining the South Britons, soon 
compelled the Scots to retire to their mountains. They next turned 
their thoughts to the entire reduction of the Britons, and received 
large reinforcements of their countrymen. After an obstinate contest 
i)f near 150 years, they reduced the whole of England under the Sax- 
on government. Seven distinct provinces became as many indepen- 
dent kingdoms. 

6. The history of the Saxon heptarchy is uninteresting, tVom its 
obscurity and confusion. It is sutficient to mark the duration of the 
several kingdoms, till their union under Egbert. Kent began in 455, 
and lasted, under seventeen princes, till 827, when it was subdued by 
the West Saxons. Under Ethelbert, one of its kings, the Saxons 
■were converted to Christianity by the monk Augustine. Northumber- 
land began in 597, and lasted, under twenty-three kings, till 792. 
East Anglia began in 575, and ended in 793. Mercia subsistetl trom 
582 to 827. Essex had tourteen princes, from 527 to 747. Sussex 
had tive kings before its reduction under the dominion of the West 
Saxons, about 600. Wessex (the country of the West Saxons) began 
in 519, and had not subsistea above eighty years, when Cadwalla, 
king of Wessex, conquered Sussex, and annexed it to his dominions. 
As there was no fixed rule of succession, itw'as the policy of the Sax- 
on princes to put to death all the rivals of iheir intended successor. 
From this cause, and from the passion tor celibacy, the royal families 
rtere nearly extinguished in the kingdoms of the heptarchy; and Eg- 
bert, prince of theWest Saxons,remainedthe sole surviving descemlaut 
of the Saxon conquerors of Britain. This circumstance, so favourable 
to his ambition, prompted him to attempt the conquest of the heptar- 
chy; and he succeeded in the enterprise. By his victorious arms 
and judicious policy all the separate states were united into one great 
kingdom, A. D. 827, near 400 years after the tirst arrival of the Sax- 
ons in Britain. 

7. England, thus united, was far from enjoying tranquillity. The 
piratical Normans or Danes had for fifty years desolated her coasts, 
and continued, for some centuries after this period, to be a perpetual 
scourge to the country. Under Alfred (the great), grandson of Eg- 
bert, the kingdom was from this cause reduced to extreme wretched- 
11 ess. The heroic Alfred in one year defeated the Danes in eight bat- 
tles; but a new irruption of their countrymen forced him to solicit a 
peace, which these pirates constantly interrupted by new hostilities, 
A Ifred was compelled to seek his safety tor many months in an obscure 
quarter of (he country, till the disorders of the Danish army ofTereJ 
a fair opportunity of attacking them, which he improved to the entire 
defeat of'his enemies. He might have destroyed them all, but chose 
rather to spare and to incorporate them with his English subjects. 
This clemency did not restrain their countrymen from attempting a 



MODERN HISTOKY. 125 

new invasion. Thev were again defeated with immense loss, and 
the extreme severity which it was necessary to exercise against the 
vanquish(;d, had the effect ofsuspcnding the Danish depredations lor 
several wars. 

a. Ali'red. whether considered in liis public or prnate character, 
dc<crves to be reckoned among tiie best and greatest of princes, lit 
united the most enterprising and lieroic spirit with consummate pru- 
dence and moderatioi!, llie utmost \igoiir of authority witli tlie mcsl 
engaging gentleness of maimer, the most exemphiry justice with the 
great(!St lenity, the talents of the statesman and the man oi' letters 
with the intrepid resolution and conduct of the general. He found 
the kingdom in the most miserable condition to which anarchy, ci.)- 
mcstic barbarism, and foreign hociility, could reduce it: he brouglit 
It to a pitch of eminence surpassing, in many respects, the shuation oi 
its contemporary nations. 

9. Alfred divided Kngland into counties, with their subdivi'iionsof 
hundreds and tilhings. The tithing or decennary consisted of ten 
iiimilies, over wnich presided a tithing-man or borg-holder ; and ten 
of these composed the hundred. Every house-holder was answerable 
for his family, and the tithing-mah for all within his tithing, hi tlie 
decision of ditferences the tithing-man had the assistance of the n st 
of his decennary. An appeal lay from the decennary to the court of 
the hundred, which was assembled every four weeks ; and the cau^e 
was tried by a jury of twelve freeholdere, sworn to do impartial jus- 
tice. An annual meeting of the hundred was held for the regidali on 
of the police of the district. The counly-court, superior to tliiit of 
the hundred, and consisting of all the freeholders, met twice a year, 
after Michaelmas and Easter, to determine appeals from the hundVec's, 
and settle disputes between the inhiibilants of different hundreds. 
The ultimate appeal from all these courts lay to the king in council; 
and the frequency of these appeals prompted vVlfred to extreme cir- 
cumspection in the appointment of his judges, he composed for the 
regulation of these court.', and of his kingdom, a body of laws, the 
ba-is of t!)e common hrv of England. 

10. AiiVed gave every encouragement to the cultivation of lettei-s, 
as the best means oi eradicating barbarism. He invited, from every 
quarter of Europe, i-Ae learned to reside in his dominions, establishe'd 
schools, and is said to have founded the university of Oxibrd. He 
was himself a most accomplished scholar for the age in v.hich he 
lived, as a.ppears from the works wliich he composed: poetical apt;- 
logiios, the translation of the histories of Bedc and Orosius ; and of iJo- 
othius on the consolation of philosophy. In every view of his char- 
acter we must regard Alfred the great as one of the best and wisest 
men that ever occupied the regal s-eat. He died at the age of tifiy- 
three, A. D. 901, after a glorious reign of twenty-riine years anvl a 
half. 

11. The admirable insiilutions of Alfred were partially and feebly 
enforced under bis successors ; and England, still a prey to ibe lava- 
ges of the Danes and intestine disorder, relapsed into confusion and 
barlwrism. The reigns of Edward the elder, the son of Allied, and 
of his successors, Athelstan, Edmund, and Edred. were tumultuous and 
anarchical. The clergy began to extend their authority over tlie 
throne, and a scries of succeeding princes were the obsequious slaves 
oi their tyranny and ambition. In the reign of E'bfdred, A. D. 981, 
Uie Danes seriously projected the conquest of England; and led by 
Sweyrj king of Denmark, an J Olaus king of Norway, made a more 

L2 



126 MODtRPN HISTORY. 

formidable descent, won- several important battles, and were restrain- 
ed from the destruction of London only by a dastardly submission, 
and a promise of tribute to be paid by the inglorious Etnelred. T'he 
English nobility were ashamed of their prince, and, seeing no other 
relief" to the kingdom, made a tender of the crown to the Danish 
monarch. On the death of Sweyn, Ethelred attempted to regain his 
kingdom, but found in Canute, the son of Sweyn, a prince determined 
to support his claims. On the death of Ethelred, his son Edmund 
Ironside gallantly but ineffectually opposed Canute. At length a 
partition of the kingdom was made between Canute and Edmund, 
which, after a few months, the Danes annulled by the murder of 
Edmund, thus securing to their monarch Canute the throne of all 
England, A. D. 1,017. Edmund loft two children, Edgar .Alheling, 
anrl Margaret, afterwards wife to Malcolm Canmore, king of Scot- 
land. 

12. Canute, the most powerful monarch of his time, sovereign of 
Denmark, Norway, and England, swayed, for seventeen years, the 
sceptre of England with a firm and vigorous hand. He was severe 
in the beginning oi' his reign, while his government was insecure ; 
but mild and equitable when possessed of a settled dominion He 
left, A. D. 1,036, three sons, Sweyn, who was crowned king of Nor- 
way, Harold, who succeeded to the throne of England, and Hardi- 
canute, sovereign of Denmark. Harold, a merciless tyrant, died m 
tho fourth year of his reign, and was succeeded by Hardicanute, 
who, after a violent administration of two years, died in a fit of de- 
bauch. The English seized this opportunity of shaking off the 
Danish yoke, and conferred the crown on Edward, a younger son of 
Ethelred, rejecting the preferable right of Edgar Atheling, the son 
of Edmund, who, unfortunately for his pretensions, was, at this time 
abroad in Hungary. Edward, surnamed the confessor, A. D. 1,041, 
reigned weakly and ingloriousiy for twenty-five years. The rebel- 
lious attempts of God\vin, earl of Wessex, aimed at nothing less than 
a usurpation of the crown; and on his death, his son Harold, cherish- 
ipg secretly the same views of ambition, had the address to secure to 
his interest a very formidable party in the kingdom. Edward, to de- 
feat these views, bequeathed the crown to William duke of Norman- 
dy, a prince whose great abilities and personal prowess had rendered 
his name illustrious over Europe. 

13. On the death of Edwurd the confessor, ],0fi6, the usurper 
Harold took possession of the throne, which the intcepid Norman 
determined immediately to reclaim as his inheritance of right. He 
made the most formidable preparations, aided, in this age of roman- 
tic enterprise, by many of the sovereign princes, and a vast hotly ol 
the nobility, from the different conlinentid kingdoms. A Norwegian 
fleet of .300 sail entered the Humber (a river on the eastern coast 
of England). The troops were disembarked, and, after one success- 
ful engagement, were defeated by the English army in the interest 
of Harold. Wil'iam landed his army on the coast of Sussex, to the 
amount of GO,U00 ; and the English, under Harold, tlbshed with their 
recent success, hastily advanced to meet him, being imprudently re- 
solved to venture all on one decisiivc battle. The total rout and dis- 
comfiture of the Englisa army in the held of Hastings, on the 14th 
day of October, 1,06G, and the death of Harold, after some fruitless 
attempts of further resistance, put Wiliiam t'uke of Normandy in 
possession of the throne ol" England. 



modeiun nisTORy. m 



SECTION XIII. 



OF THE GOVERNMENT, LAWS, AND MANNERS OF THE 
ANGLO-SAXONS. 

1. The government, laws, and manners of the Anglo-Saxons have 
become a subject of inquiry to modern writers, as being supposed lo 
have h-.id intluence in the f(.rmntir)n of the British constitution. 
The government of the Saxons was the same as that of all the an- 
cient Germanic nations, and they naturally retained, in their new 
settlement 'n Britain, a policy similar to their accustomed usages. 
Their subordmation was chiefly military, the king having no more 
authority than what belonged" to the general, or military leader. 
There was no strict rule of succession to the throne; for though the 
King was generally chosen from the family of the last prince, yel 
the choice usually fell on the person of the best capacity for govern- 
ment. In some instances the destination of the last sovereign regu- 
lated the choice. We know very little of the nature of the Anglo- 
Saxon government, or of the distinct rights of the sovereign and 
people. 

2. One institution common to all the kingdoms of the heptarchy was 
the wittenagemot, or assembly of the wise men, whose consent was 
requisite for enacting laws, and ratifying the chief acts of public ad- 
ministration. The bishops and abbots formed a part of this assem- 
_bly ; also the aldermen, or ear'.s, and governors of counties. The 
wites, or wise men, are discriminated from the prelates and nobility, 
and have by some been supposed to have been liie representative:} 
of the commons. But we hear nothing of election or representation 
in those periods, and we must therefore presume that they were 
merely landholders, or men of considerable estate, who, I'rom their 
weight and consequence in the country, were held entitled, with-out 
any election, to take a share in the public deliberations. 

3. The Anglo-Saxon government was extremely aristocraticnl, 
the regal authority being ^ery limited, the rights of the peJj^le littlo 
known or regarded, and the nobility possessing much uncontrolled 
and lawless rule over their dependents. The offices of government 
were hereditary in their f;KTiilies, and they commanded the ^vhole 
m-ilitary I'orce of their respective provinces. So strict was the clien- 
teba between these nobles and their vassals, that the murder of a vas- 
sal was compensated by a tine paid to his lord. 

4. There were three ranks of the. people, the nobles, the free, and 
the slaves. The nobles were either the kir.-g's thanes, who held' 
their lands directly from the sovereign, or less thanes, who held land? 
from liie former. One law of Athelstan declared, that a merchant 
who had made three voyages on his own .account was entitled to the 
dignity of thane; another decreed the same rank to a ceorle, or bus- 
handman, who was able to purchase five hides ■: f land, and luui a 
chapel, a kitchen, a hall, and a bell. The ceorles, or treemen of the 
lower rank, occjpied the farms of the thanes, foi which they paid 
rent; and they were removable at the pleasure of iheir lord. The 
slaves or villains were either employed in domestic purposes, or in 
cultivating the lands. A master was hned tor the murder of his slave; 

-and if he mutilated him, the slave recovered his treedom. 

ft. Under this.aristocratical government there wero some traces of 



128 MODERN HISTORY. 

the ancient Germanic democra'-.y. The courts of'tlio decenairy, the 
hundred, and tne county, were a considerable restraint on the pow- 
er of the nobles. In the county-courts the tVeeholders met twice 
a year lo determine appeals by the majority ol suflrages. The 
alderPK'.n presided in those coin-ls, but had no vote : he received a 
third of the tines, the remaining two-thirds devolving to the king, 
which was a great part otUie royal revenue. Pecuniary tines were 
the ordinary atonement tor every species of crime, and the modes 
of prool" ^vere the ordeal by lire or water, or by compurgators 
(Part I!.. Sect. V., § 7.) ,^ 

6. A'- to the military force, the expense of defending the state lay 
o(|ually on all the land, every live hides or ploughs being taxed to 
tui'i'.i"--! a soldier. There were 243,600 hides in England, conse- 
quently the ordinary military force consisted of 48,720 men. 

7. The king's revenue, besides the tines imposed by tne courts, 
consisted parUy of his demesnes or property-lancJs, which were ex- 
tensive, and partly in imposts on borouglis and sea-poils. The Dane- 
gelt was a tax imposed by the st^ites, either for payment of tribute 
exacted by the Dunes, or for defending the kingdom against them 
By the custom of gavelkind, the land was divided equally among all 
tiie male children of the deceased proprietor. Lands held by the 
tenure of BorOifigh-English, on the death of tlie tenant, went to the 
youngest son, instead of the eldest. Book-land was that which was 
held ijy charier, and folk-land what was held by tenants removable 
at pleasure. 

8. Tlie Anglo-Saxons were behind the Normans in every pMnt ol 
civilization; and the conquest was therefore to them a real advan- 
tage, as it led to material improvement in arts, science, government, 
and laws. 

SECTION XIV. 

STATE OF EUROPE DURING THE 'I^ENTH, ELEVENTH, AND 
TVv'KLFTM CENTURIES. 

1. Franck, tVem the extent and splendour of its dominion under 
Charl;jni;!j^ne, had dwindled to a shadow under his weak posterity. 
At the v'ud of the ('ariovingian period France comprehended neither 
JNormaudy, Dauphine, nor Provence. On the (lealn of Lev* is V. 
{^Faineam), the crown ought to have devolved on his uncle, Charles 
of Brahaul, as the hist male of the race of Charlemagne; but Hugh 
Capet, lord of Picardy and Ciiampiigne, the most powerful (>i" the 
Frviiich nobler, vvas elected sovereign by the voice of his hrolhei 
peers, A. D. 987. The kingdom, torn by parties, suiTL-reii much 
domestif^ misery tmder the reign of Mugh, and that of his siirccssoi 
liobert, the violim of papal tyranny, for d.uing tu marry a distai:* 
cousi:! without liio dispensation of the church. 

2. 'i\-.e prev; iliiig passion of the times was pilgrimage and rhiv. 
ah-ous enterprise, "in this catver of adventure ttie Normans uiosl 
remarkably di.lingiiished themselves. ' in 983 they relieved the 
prince of 'Salerno, by expelling the Sar.icens from his teniioiy. 
They did a shnilir service to !:<>pe Benedict Vlll., aiid the duke <>f 
(ilapua; while auol'ier Irand of their countrymen tought tirst again.sl 
the'ireeks, and iVAerwanls against the popes, always selling tncir ser- 
vices to those who best rewarded them. William' Fierabras, and hi8 : 
toothers, Humphrey, Robert, and Richard, kept the pope a prisoner ; 



RiODETlN fliSTORY. 129 

for a year at Benevento, and forced the coirt of Rome to yield Caplia 
to l{ii:liiird, and Apulia aixl Calabria to Kobeit, with the investiture 
of Sicily, if lie should gain the country from th<? Srtraccnis. In 1,101 
Roi'ero the Normiin completed the conquest of Sicily, of which the 
popes continued to he the lords paramount. 

,y. The north of Europe was in those periods extremely barba- 
rous. ilussM received the christian religion in the eighth century. 
Sweden, alter its conversion in the ninth century, relapsed into idola- 
try, as (lid IJungarv and Bohemia. The Constantinopoiilan empire 
defended its fnntiers with dilhculty against the Bulgarians on the 
west, and against the Turks and Arabians on the east and north. 

4. In Italy, excepting the territory of the popedom, the principali- 
ties of the independent nobles, and the states of Venice amlGenoa.the 
greater part ol' the country was now in the possession of the Nor- 
mans. Venice and GenDa were rising gradually to great opulence from 
commerce. Venice was for some ages tributary to the emperors ot 
Germany. In the tenth century its doge assumed the title of duke 
of Dalmatia, of which the republic had acquired the property by 
conquest, as well as of Istria, Spalatro, Kagusa, and Narenza. 

5. Spain was chiefly possessed by the Moors; the christians reiain- 
iiig C!^! V n'jC'at a fouriii of tiie kingdom, namely, Asturia, part of Castile 
nnd Catalonia, Navarre, and Arragon. Portugal was likewise occu- 
pied by the Moors. Their capital was Cordova, the seat of luxury 
and magnilicence. In the tenth century the Moorish dominions were 
Split among a number of petty sovereigns, who were constantly a-t 
Wiiv with one another. Such, unfortunately, was likewise the sitiia- 
tion of the christian part of the kingdom ; and it was no uncommon 
policy for the christian princes to form alliances with the Moors 
against one another. Besides these the country abounded with inde- 
pendent lords who made war their profession, and performed the 
office of champions in deciding the quari'els of princes, or enHstod 
themselves in their service with all their vassals and attendartts. Oi 
these, termed cavalleros andantes^ or knights-errant, the most dis- 
tinguished was Kodrigo the cid, who undertook for his sovereign. 
Alphonso king of Old Castile, to conquer the kingdom of Ne^v• Cas- 
tile, and achieved it witb success, obtaining the government of Va- 
lencia as the reward of his services. 

6. The contentions between the imperial and papal powers made 
a distinguished tjgare in those ages. Henry III. vindicated the im- 
perial right to till the«chair of St. Peter, and nominated three suc- 
cessive popes, without the intervention of a council of the church. 
But in the minority of his son Henry IV., this right was frequently inter 
rupted, and Alexander II. kept his seat, though the emperor named 
another in his place. It was the lot of this emperor to expeiience 
'the utmost extent of papal insolence and tyranny. Alter a spirited 
contest with Gregory Vll., in which the pope ^vas twice his prisoner-, 
and the emperor as "often excommunicated and deposed, Henry fell 
at length the victim of ecclesiastical vengeance. Urban 11., a succes- 
sor of Gregory, prompted the two sons of Henry to rebel against 
their father; and his misfortunes were terminated by imprisonment 
and death in 1,106. The same contests went on under a succession of 
•popes and emperors, but ended commonly in favour of the former. 
Frederick I. (Barbaros-sa), a prince of high spirit, after an intiignnnt 
denial of the supremacy of Alexander 111., and a rel'usal of the cus- 
toinary homage, was at length compelled to kiss his feet, and appease 
l>i6 holiness by a large cession of territory. Pope Celestinus kicked 

17 



130 MODERN HISTORY. 

off the imperial ciown of Henry VL, while doing hom.ige on his 
knees, hut iniide amends tor this insolence by tlie gift of JNinplos ;iim' 
Sicily, from which Henry had expelled the I'^Ionnans. These u^ri- 
tories now became an appaniige of the emj.n^'e, 1,194. The smc- 
ceeding popes rose on the pretensions of tlieir predecessors, till at 
length Innocent 111., in the beginning; of the thirteenlh century, estah 
Lshed the power of the popedom on a settled itasjs, and olitaint-.i ;> 
positive acknowledgment of the papal supremacy, or the riiiil ))riti- 
cipaliler ct Jinalitcr {principally andJinaUy) to confer the imptMial 
crown. It was the same pope Innocent whom we shall prefenily 
see the disposer of the crown of England iu the reign \)i the tyrant 
John. 



SECTION XV 

HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN THE ELEVENTH, TWELFTH, AND 
PART OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURIES. 

1. The consequence of the battle of Hastings was the submission 
of all England to VViiiiam the conqueror. The character of this 
prince was spirited, haughty, and tyrannical, yet not without a por- 
tioa of the generous affections. He disgusted his English sul)jtc(s 
by the strong partiality which he showed to his Norman tbilowers, 
preferring them to all olhces of trust and dignity. A conspiracy 
anvse from these discontents, whicii William dotoated, and avetij^ed 
with signal rigour and cruelty. He determined hencefoiward to 
treat the English as a conquered people, a policy that i'.ivolved his 
reign in perpetual commotions, which, wiule they robbed him oi' all 
peace ot mind, aggravated the t}'ranny of his (hsposition. To his 
own, children he owed the severest of his troubles. His (ddest son 
Robert rose io rebellion, to wi;3st from him tlie sovereignty oi 
Maine; and his foreign subjects took part with the rebel. William 
led against them an army of the English, and was on the point of 
perishing in fight by his son's hand. Philip I. of France had aided 
this rebellion, which was avenged by VViiiiam, who carried havoc and 
devastation into the heart of his kingdom, but was killed in the en- 
terprise by a lall from his horse, I,U8'. He Lr^queathed England to 
William his second son ; to Robert he left Normanuy ; and to Henry, 
his youngest son, the properly of his mother Matilda. 

2. VViiiiam the conqueror introduced into England the feudal law, 
dividing the whole kingdom, except the royal demesnes, into baron- 
ies, and bestowing the most of these, under the teiuiie of military 
service, on his Norman followers. By tlie forest laws he reserved 
to himself the exclusive privilege of killing game over all the 
kingdomj a restriction resented by his suljects above every other 
mark of servitude, i'leparatory to the introduction of the feudal 
tenures, he planned and accomplished a gener.-d survey of all the 
lands in the kingdom, with a distinct specitication of their extetit, na 
ture, vahie, names of their proprietors, and an euumeration of every 
chtss of inhabitants who lived on them. 1'his most valuable record, 
culled Doniim lay-book^ is preserved in the English exchequer, and is 
now printed. 

3. William II. (Rufus) inherited the vices, without any ol llie 
vir<uf,8, of his lather. His reign is distinguished by no event of im- 
portance, and, after the defeat of one conspiracy in its outset, pr«> 



MODERN HISTORY. 131 

sents nothing but a dnl! career of unresisted despotism. After a reign 
of thirteen years he was l<ilted when hunting by the random shot of 
an airow, 1,100. The crown of England would have devolved on his 
elder brottier Robert ; but his absence on a crusade in Palestine made 
way for the unopposed succession of his younger bi other Henry, 
who, by his marriage with Matild;i, the niece of Edgar Atheiing, urnt- 
e<l the last remnanl of the Saxon with Hie Norman line. With mcst 
criminal ambition, he now invaded \m brother's dominions of Norman- 
dy; and Robert, >jn his return, was defeated in battle, and detained 
for life a prisoner in England. The crimes of Henry were expiates! 
iiy his misibrtunes. His only sea wns drowned in bis passage from 
Normandy. His daughter Matilda, married first to the emperor Hen- 
ry v., and afterwardTs to GeoOVey Flantagenet of Anjou, \vas destined 
to he bis successor ; but the popularity of big nephew Stephen, son 
of the count of Blois, defeated these intentions. Henry I. died in Nor- 
mandy, afier a reign of thirty-live years, A. D. l,13f); and, in spite of 
liis destination to Matilda, Stephen seized the vacant throne. The 
party of ftlatilda, headed by her natural brother, the earl of Glouces- 
ter, engaged, defeated, and made Stephen pi isoner. Matilda in her 
lin-n mounted the throne; but, unpopular from the tyranny of her 
disposition, she was solemnly deposed by the prevailing party cf her 
rival ; and Stephen was once more restored. He found, however, in 
Henry Plaiilagenet, the son of Matilda, a more formidable competitor. 
Of a noble and intrepid sjiirit, ho resolved, while yet a boy, to reclaim 
his hereditary crown ; and, landkig in England, won bv bis prowess, 
and the favour of a just cause, a great part of the kin|flom to bis iii- 
tere'it. Bv treat}* with Stephen, who was allowed to reign for life 
he secured the succession at his dealli, u'hich soon after ensued, 
Mel. 

!. Henry II., a prince in every sense desecjing of the throne, began 
his reign with the reformation of all the abi»s of the government of 
his predecessors; revoking all impolitic gj^ts, abolishing partial ini- 
muniiiL>s, regulating the ad^ninislrj.tion fJpKice, and establishing the 
frefcd(MTi of th£ to\vns by cliarters, whiclrare at this day the basis of 
theliationai liberty. Happy in the ali'ections of bis people, and pow- 
:'ful in the vast extent of additional territory which be enjoyed on 
'he conliaent in right of his father and of his wife, the heiress of a 
great portion of Erance, his reign had every promise of prosperity 
md happiness; but from one fatal source these pleasing prospects 
were all destroyed. Thomas Becket was raised by Henry from ob- 
scurity to tb.e othce of chancellor of England. On the vacancy of the 
see oi Canterbury the king, desirous of his aid in the correction, of 
?cclesi:istical abuses, conferred the primacy on his favourite ; and the 
aiTogjnt Becket availed himself of that authority to abase the prerog- 
ative of his sovereign^ and exalt the spiritual power above the crouii. 
It was dispiited, whether a priest could be tried for a murder, and pun- 
IsIkmI by the civil court. It was determined in the atlirmative by the ^jk 
council of Clarendon, against the opinion of Becket. Pope Alexander wB^ 
111. annulled tlv3 decree of the council; and Becket, who took pai-^^ 
with the pope, was deprived by Henry of all his dignities and estates. 
He avenged huMself by the excommunication of the king's ministers: 
and Henry, ii> | jpurn. prohibited all intercourse with the see of Home. 
At length botnparties found it iheir interest to come to a good under- 
standing. Becket was restored to favour, and reinstated in his primacy, 
■when the increasmg insolence of his demeanour drew from the king 
some hasty expressions of indignation, which his servants interpretei 



132 MODERN HiSlORY. 

into a sentence of proscription, and, trusting that (he deed would be 
gratafiil to their master, murdered the prelate vviiile in the act of 
celebrating vespers at the altar. For this shocking action llonry 
expressed the regret which he sincerely felt, and the pope indulgent- 
ly granted his pardon, on tlie assurance of his dutiiul obedience to 
the holy church. 

5. Ihe most important event of the reign of Henry II. was the 
conquest of Ireland. The Irish, an early civilized people, and among 
the tirst ef the nations of the west whoembraced the christian reli- 
gion, nere, by fiecjuent invasions of the J)anes, and their own domes- 
tic commotions, replunged inlo barbarism tor many ages. In the 
tweillh century the kingdom consisted of five separate sovereignties. 
Ulster,' Leinster, Mmiater, IVIeath, and Connaught; but these were 
subdivided among an inlinite number of petty chiefs, owing a very 
weak allegiance to their respective sovereigns. Dermot Macmoi-- 
rogh, expelled trom his kingdom of Leinster for a rape on the daugh- 
tei' of the king of Meatli, sought protection from Menry,nnd engaged 
to become his feudatory, if he should recover his kingdom byihe aid 
of the English. Henry empowered his subjects to iuvade Ireland, 
and, while Strongbow earl of Pembroke ami Ins followers were lay- 
ing waste the country, landed in the island inj,172, and received ihe 
submission of nuny of the independent chiei's. Roderick O'Connor, 
prince of Connaught, whom the Irish elected nominal sovereign of 
ail the provinces, resisted ibr three years the arms of Henry, hut 
finally acknowledged his dominion by a solemn embass-y to the king 
at Win.lsor. 'f^\e. terms of the submission were, an annual tribute of 
fvery te!i*^hhida of land, to b(j applied Ibrthe support of government, 
i.iKi a.n obliiratio; of allegiance to the crown of Engiand ; on which 
conditions the Irish should retain their possessions, and Roderick his 
kingdom: except the t(^-itory of the I'ale, or that part which the 
Enj;!i-h baroas bad sui)c!Wxl b(;tbre the arrival of Henry, 

6. Henry divided Irelam-into counties, appoir-ted sheritTs in each 
and introduced the laws oMCngland intc the territory ol" tiie Pale 
The rest of the kingdom wa^egulated by their ancient laws, till the 
pigii of Edward 1., when, at the request of the naticn, the English 
laws were extended to the whole kingdom. In the tirst Iris'n parlia- 
ment, which was held in the same reign, sir John Wogan presided as 
deputy of the sovereign. From that time there was little intercoui^se 
between the two kingdoms lor some centuries; nor was the island 
considered as fully subdued till the reign of Elizabeth and of her sue 
cessor .1 ames i. 

7. The hitier part of the reign of Henry II. was clouded by domes- 
tic misfortunes. 'His children, Henry, Richard, GeotTrey, and John, 
instigated by their unnatural mother, rose in iei«;llion, and, v. i.h the 
aid of Louis Vli., king o.f France, piepared to dethrone t'heir father. 
While opposing them with spirit on the continent, his kingdom was 

Jt-vaded by the Scots under William (the lion). He hastened back to 
^^ngland. defeated the Scots, and made their king his prisoner. Two 
of his sons, Henry and Geoffrey, expiated their offences l»y an o^.arly 
death ; but Richard, once reconciled, was again seduced from his al- 
legiance, and, in league with the king of France, pliMdered his (a- 
tber''s continental dominions. The spirit of Henry wi^^kequal to his 
domestic misfortunes, and he died o"a broken heart irWTo 58th ye.ir 
oi'hisage, 1,189, an ornament to the English throne, and a prince., sur- 
passing all hlscxintemporaries in the valuable qualities of a sovereign 



MODERN HISTORV ISS- 

To him England owed her first permanent improvement in art*, In 
ki^v?, in government, and in civil liberty. 

8. Richard I. (coeiir de lion) immediately on his accession embark- 
ed for the Holy Land, on a crusade against the infidels, after plunder- 
ing his subjects of an immense sum of money to defray the charges 
of the enterprise. Forming a league with Philip Augustus of France, 
L'he two monarchs joined their forces, and acting for some time in 
concert, were successful in the taking of Acra or Ptolemais ; but Phil- 
ip, jealous of his rivars glory, soon leturned to France, while Richard 
had the honour of defeating the hei^oic Saladin in the battle of Asca- 
lon, with prodigious slaughter of his enemies. He prepared now foi 
the siege of .lerusalem; but, tinding his army wasted with famine and 
flitiguG. he was compelled to end the war by a truce with Saladin, in 
which he obtained a free passage to the Holy Land for every chris- 
tian pilgrim. Wrecked in his voyage homeward, and travelling in 
disguise through Germany, Richard was seized, and detained in pris- 
on, by command of tlie emperor Henry VI. Tiio king of France un- 
generously opposed his release, as did his unnatural brother John, 
from seKish ambition ; but he was at tenjjj^Cimsomed by his subjects 
for the sum of 150,000 merks', and, aftei-ar^ibsence of nine years, re- 
turned to his dominions. His traitorous brother was pardoned after 
some submission ; and Richard employed the short residue of his 
reign in a spirited revenge against his rival Philip. A truce, howev- 
er, was concluded bv the mediation of Rome ; and Richard was soon , 
after killed, while storming the castle of one cf his rebellious vassals 
in the Limosin. He died in the tenth year of his 'reign, and forty 
second of his age, 1,199. 

9. John (lack-lari(l) succoodcd to the throne on the death of Ids 
brother, but found a competitor in his nephew Arthur, the son ot 
Geoffrey, supported by Philip of France. War was of course renew- 
ed with that country. Arthur, \vith fatal confidence, throwing him- 
self into the hands of his uncle, was removed by poison or the sword : 
a deed which, joined to the known tyramff of his character, rendered 
John the detestation of his subjects. He was stripped by Philip of 
his continental dominions, and he made the pope his enemy by an ava- 
ricious attack on the treasures of the church. After an ineffectual 
menace of vengeance, Innocent IlL pronounced a sentence of interdict 
against the kingdom, which pr.t a stop to all the ordinances of religion, 
to baptism, and the burial of the dead. He next excommunicated 
Jolin. and absolved his subjects from their allegiance; and he finally 
deposed him, and made a gift of the kingdom to Philip. John, intimi- 
dated into submission, declared himself the pope^s vassal, swore alle- 

iance on his knees to the papal lerate, and agreed to hold his king 
dom tributary to the holy see. On these conditions, which ensured 
:lie universal hatred and contempt of his people, he made his peace 
x'idi the church. It was natural that his su.bjects, thus trampled upon 
ind sold, should vindicate their rights. The barons of the king- 
dom assembled, and, binding themselves by oath to a union of meas- 
ures, resolutely demanded from the king a ratification of a charter of 
privileges granted by Henry I. John appealed to the pope, who, in 
Isupport of his vassal, prohibited the confederacy of" the barons as re- 
jbelli<nis. The barons were only the more resolute in their purpose, 
and the sword was their last resource. At length John was compelled 
!to yield to fheir demands, and signed at Runymede, on the 19th 
day of June, 1,215, that solemn charter, which is the foundation and 
bulwark of English liberty. Magna Clmrta (tfie great cbai-ter). 
M 



134 MODERN HlSTOllY. 

10. By this great charter, 1, the freedom of election to benefices 
wa^ secured to the clergy; 2, the tines to the overlord on the suc- 
cession of vassals were regulated; 3, no aids or subsidies were allow- 
ed to be levied from the subject, without the consent of the great 
council, unless in a iew special cases ; 4, tlie crown shall not seize 
the lands ot a baron tor a debt, u'hile he has personal proper- v 
siitncient to discharge it; 5, all the privileges granted by the king to 
his vassals shall be communicated by them to their inferior vassais- 
6, one weight and one measure shall be used throughout the king- 
dom; 7, all men shall pass from and return to the realm at their 
pleasure ; 8, all cities and boroughs shall preserve their ancient 
liberdes; 9, the estate of every freeman shall be regulated by his 
will, and, if he die intestate, by tlie law; 10, the king''s court siia'll oe 
stationary, and open to all ; 11, every freeman shall be lined only ii» 
proportion tc his offence, and no fine shall be imposed to his uttei 
ruhi; 12, no peasant shall, by a tine, be deprived of his instruments* 
of husbandry ; 13, no person shall be tried on su.^picion alone, but 
on the evidence of hiwfui witnesses; 14, no person shall be tried 
or punisiied unless by the>4udgment of his peers and the law ot the 
huid. 

1 1. John granted at the same time the Charta de Foresta {the cluir- 
ter concerning forests), which abolished the royal privilege of killing 
game over all the kingdom, and restored to the lawful propvieloi-s 
their woods and forests, which they were now allowed to enclose 
cind use at their pleasure. As compulsion alone had extorted these 
concessions, John was determined to disregard them, and a foreign 
Ibrce was brought into the- kingdom to i^educe the barons to submis- 
Mon. The barons applied for aid to France, and Philip sent his 50n 
f-icwis to England with an army ; and such vvas the people's hatred 
of their sovereign, that they swore allegiance to this foreigner. At 
this critical period John died at Newark, in 1,216, and an instant 
change ensued. His son Hgiiry 111., a boy of nine years of age, was 
crowned at Bristol; and his uncle, the earl of Pembroke, was appoint- 
ed protector of the realm. The disaffected barons returned to their 
allegiance; the people hailed their sovereign; and Lewis with his 
army, after an ineffectual struggle, made peace with the protector, 
and evacuated the kingdom. 



SECTION XVI. ] 

STATE or GERMANY AND ITALY IN THE THlRTEEiNTH 
CENTURY. 

1 EaEDKitiCK II., son of Henry VI., was elected emperor on the 
resignation of Otho IV., in 1,212. At this period Naples, Sicily, and 
Lombardy, were all appanages of the empire; and the conteutio-is 
between the imperial and papal powers divided the states ot i!.:'!y 
into tactions, known by the name of Guclphs and Ghibeliinc-, tlij 
former mainlairjng the supremacy of the pope, the latter that of t!ie 
emperor. The opposition of Frederick to four successive popes 
vvas avenged by excommunication and deposition ; yet he kept posses- 
sion of his throne, and vindicated his authority with great spirir. 
Frequent attempts were made against his lite, by assassination and 
poison, which he openly attributed to papal resentment. On iii.i 
iigiith, in 1,250, the splendour of the empire was for many years ob- 



MODERN HISTORY. l?,ft 

sciired. It was a prey to incessant factions and civil war, the fruit ot 
contested claims of sovereignty. Yet the popes gained nothing by 
its disorders, for the trouble's of Italy were equally hostile to their 
ambition. We have seen the turbulent state of England. France 
vva> equally weak and anarchical ; and Spain was ravaged by the 
contests o-f the floors and christians. Yet, distracted as^ appears the 
situation of Europe, one great project gave a species of union to this 
discordant mass, of which we now proceed to give an account. 



SECTION XVII. 

THE CRUSADES, OR HOLY WARS. 

1. The Turks or Turcomans, a race of Tartars from the regions 
of Mount Taurus and Imaus, invaded the dominions of Moscovy 
in the eleventh century, and came down upo^ the hanks of the 
Caspian. The caliphs employed Turkish mercenaries, and they 
acquired the reputation of able soldiers in the wars that took place 
on occasion of the contested caliphate. The caliphs of Bagdat^ the 
Abassidae, were deprived of Syria, Egypt, and Africa, by their rival 
caliphs of the race of Omar; and the Turks stripped of their do- 
minions both the Abassidaj and Onuniades. Bagdat was taken hy the 
Tures, and the empire of the cahpns overthrown in 1,055 ; and these 
princes, trom temporal monarchs, became no\v the supreme pontifl's 
of the Mahometan faith,<fc the popes of the christian. At the time 
of the tirst crusade, in the end of the eleventh century, Arabia was 
governed by a Turkish sultan, as were Persia and the greater por- 
tion of Lesser Asia. — The eastern empire was thus abridged of its 
Asiatic territory, and had lost a great part of its dominions m Europe. 
It retained, however, Greece, Macedonia, Thrace, andlllyria; and 
Constantinople itself was populous, opulent, and luxurious. Palestine 
was in the possession of the Turks ; and its capital Jerusalem, fallen 
frem its ancient consequence and splendour, was yet held in re- 
spect hy its conquerors as a holy city, and constantly attracted the re- 
sort of Mahometans to the mosque of Omar, as of christian pilgrims 
to the sepulchre of ohr Saviour. 

2. Peter the hermit, a native of Amiens, on his return from this 
pilgrimage, complained in load terms of the grievances which the 
christians sufi'ered from the Turks; and Urban II. pitched on this 
enthusiast as a tit person to commence the execution of a grand de- 
sign which the popes had long entertained, of arming all Christen- 
dom, and exterminating the infidels trom the Holy Land. The project 
was opened m two general councils held at Placentia and Clermont. 
The French possessed more ardour than the Italians ; and an im- 
mense muUitude of ambitious and disorderly nobles, with all their 
dependents, eager for enterprise and plundei', and assured of eternal 
salvation, immediately took the cross. Peter the hermit led 80,000 
under his banners, and they began their march towards the east in 
1,095. Their progress was marked by rapine and hostility in every 
christian country through which they passed ; and the army of the 
hermit, on its ari'ival at Constantinople, was wasted down to 20,000. 
The emperor Alexius Comnenus, to whom the crusaders behaved 
with the most provoking msolence and folly, conducted himself with 
admirable moderation and good sense. He hastened to get rid of 
tliis disorderly multitude, by furnishing them with every aid which 



136 MODERN HISTORY. 

they required, and cheerfully lent his ships to transport thein acrom 
the Bosphorus. The sultan Solym^n met them in the plain of 
Nicea, and destroyed the army of tlie hermit. A now host in the 
mean time arrived at Constantinople, led by more illustrious com- 
manders; by Godfrey of Bouillon duke of Brabant, Raymond count 
of Thoulouse, Robert of Normandy, son of William king of Eng- 
land, Bohemond, son of Robert Guiscard, the conqueror of Sicily, 
and other princes of high reputation. To these, who amounted to 
some hundred thousands, Alexius manifested the same prudent con- 
duct, to accelerate their departure. The Turks, overpowered by 
numbers, were twice defeated ; and the crusaders, pursuing their suc- 
cesses, penetrated at length to Jerusalem, which after a siege of six 
weeks, they took by storm, and with savage fury massacred the 
whole of its Mahometan and Jewish inhabitants, A. D. 1,099. Godfrey 
was hailed king of Jerusalem, but was obliged soon after to cede his 
kingdom to the p^e's legate. The crusaders divided Syria and 
Palestine, and formed four separate states,- which weakened their 
power. The Turks began to recover strength ; and the christians 
of Asia soon found it necessary to solicit aid from Europe. 

3. The second crusade set out from the west in 1,146, to the 
amount of 200,009 French, Germans, and Italians, led by Hugh, 
brother of Philip I. of France. These met with the same fate 
which attended the anny of Pd.er the hermit. The garrison of 
Jerusalem was at this time so ^eak, tiiat it became necessary to 
embody and arm the monks for its defence ; and hence arose the 
military orders of the knights templars imd hospitallers, and soon 
after the Teutonic, from the Gerinan pilgrims. Meantime pope 
Eugenius III. employed St. Bejjfiard te preach a new crusade in 
France, which was headed by its sovereign Lewis VII., (the young), 
who, in conjunction with Conrad III., etnperor of Germany, mus- 
tered jointly 300,000 men. The Germans were extirpated by the 
sultan of Iconium ; the Fi-ench were totally defeated near Laodicea ; 
and the two monarchs, after much disaster, returned with shame to 
their dominions. 

4. The illustrious Saladhi, nephew of the sultan of Egypt, formed 
the design of recovering Palestine from the christians ; and besieging 
Jerusalem, he took the city, and made prisoner its sovereign, Guy 
of Lusignan. Pope Clement III., alarmed at the successes ol the 
infidels, began to stir up a new crusade from France, England, and 
Germany ; and the armies of each country were headed by their 
respective sovereigns, Philip Augustus, Richard I., and Frederick 
Barbarossa. In this third crusade the emperor Frederick died in 
Asia, and liis army, by repeated defeats, mouldered to nothing. 
The English and I rench were more successful : they besieged and 
took Ptolemais : but Richard and Philip quarrelled from jealousy of 
each others glory, and the French monarch returned in disgust to 
his country. Richard nobly sustained the contest with Saladin, 
whom he defeated near Ascalon ; but his army was reduced by fam- 
ine and flitigue. He concluded a treaty, at least not dishonourable, 
with his enemy, and was forced at length to escape from Palestine 
with a single ship. (See Sect. XV., § 8.) Saladin, revered even by 
the christians, died in 1,195. 

5. A fourth crusade was fitted out in 1,202, under Baldwin count 
of Flanders, of which the object was not the extirpation of the infi- 
dels, but the destructior of the empire of the east. Constantinople, 
embroiled by civil war and revolution from disputed claims to thfi 



( 



MODEKN HISTORY. 137 

sovereignty, was besieged and taken by the crusaders; and Baldivin, 
their chief, was elected emperor, to be within a few months dethron- 
ed and murdered. The imperial dominions were shared among the 
principal leaders; and the V'enetians, who had lent their ships for the 
expedition, got the isle of Candia (anciently Crete) for their reward. 
Alexius, of the imperial family of the Commeni, founded a new sove- 
reignty in Asia, which he termed the empire of Trebizond. The ob- 
ject of a fifth crusade was to lay waste Egypt, in revenge for an 
attack on Palestine, by its sultan Saphadin. Partial success and ulti- 
mate ruin was the issue of this expedition, as of all the preceding. 

6. At this period, 1,227, a great revolution took place in Asia. 
Gengiskan wiih his Tartars broke down from the north upon Persia 
and Syria, and massacred indiscriminately Turks, Jews, and Chris- 
tians, wlio opposed them. The christian knights, tfmplars, hospital- 
lers, and Teutonic, made a desperate but ineffectual resistance ; and 
Palestine must have been abandoned to these invaders, if its fate had 
not been for a while retarded by the last crusade under Lewis IX. oi 
France. This prince, summoned by Heaven, as he believed, after 
four years' preparation, set out for the Holy Land, with his queen, 
his three brotliers, and all the knights of France. \ His army began 
their enterprise by an attack on Egypt, where, after some consider- 
able successes, they were at length utterly defeated; and the 
French monarch, with two of his brothers, fell into the hands of the 
enemy. He pui'chased his liberty at an immense ransom, and, return- 
ing to France, reigned prosperously and wisely for thirteen years. 
But the same phrensy again assailing him, he embarked on a crusad'e 
against the Moors in 'Africa, where he and his army were destroyed 
I jy a pestilence, 1,270. It is computed that, in the whole of the 
crusades to Palestine, two millions of Europeans were buried in the 
east. 

7. Effects of the crusades. One consequence of the holy wars is 
supposed to have been the improvement of European manners ; but 
the times immediately succeeding the cnisades exhibit no such actual 
improvement. Two centuries of barbarism and darkness elapsed 
between the termination of those enterprises and the fall of the 
Greek empire in 1,453, the Kra of the revival of letters, and the 
commencement of civilization. A certain consequence of the cru- 
sades was the cliange of territorial property in all the feudal king- 
doms, the sale of the estates of the nobles, and their division among 
a number of smaller proprietors. Hence the feudal aristocracy was 
weakened, and the lower classes began to acquire weight, and a 
spirit of independence. The towns hitherto bound by a sort of^ vassal- 
age to tlie nobles, began to purchase their immunity, acquired the 
right of electing their own magistrates, and were governed by their 
own municipal laws. The church in some respects gained, and in 
others lost by those enterprises. The popes gained a more extend- 
eil jurisdiction ; but the iatal issue of those expeditions opened the 
eyes of the world to the selfish and interested motives which had 
prompted them, and weakened the sway of superstition. Blany of the 
religious orders acquired an increase of wealth; but this was bal- 
anced by the ■ taxes imposed on tlie clergy. The coin vv'as altered 
and debased in most of the kingdoms of Europe, from the scarcity 
of specie. The Jews were supposed to have hoarded and concealed 
it, and hence they became the vicJ:ims of general persecution. The 
most substantial gainers by the crusades were the Italian states of 
Genoa, Pi^a, and Venice, from the increased trade to the I^evant 

MS 18 



i38 MODERN HISTORY. 

for the supply of those immense armies. Venice, as we have seen, 
took an active concern, and obtained her share of the conquerea 
territory. 

The age of the crusades brought chivalry to its perfection and gave 
tise to romantic liction. 

See Rett's Elements of General Knowledge, vol. I. 

I 
SECTION XVIII. ( 

OF CHIVALRY AND ROMANCE. f 

1. CmvALRY arose naturally from the condition of society in those 
ages in which it prevailed. Among the Germanic nations the profes- 
sion of arms was esteemed the sole employment that deserved the 
name of manly or honourable. The initiation of the youth to this pro- 
fession WAS attended with peculiar solemnity and appropriate cere- 
monies. The chief of the tribe bestowed the sword and armour on 
his vassal, as a symbol of their devotion to his sei'vice. In the prog- 
ress of the feudal system these vassals, in imitation of their chief, as- 
sumed the power of conferring arms on their sub-vassals, with a 
similar form of mysterious and pompous ceremonial. The candidate 
for knighthood underwent his preparatory fasts and vigils, and re- 
ceived on his knees the accollade and benediction of his cnief Arm- 
ed and caparisoned, he sallied forth in quest of adventure, which, 
whether just or not in its purpose, was ever esteemed honourable in 
proportion as it was perilous. 

2. The esteem of the female sex is characteristic of the Gothic 
manners. In those ages of barbarism the castles of the greater bar- 
ons were the courts of sovereigns in miniature. The society of the 
ladies, who found only in such fortresses a security from outrag.e, jpol- 
ished the manners ; and to protect the chastity and honour of the fair, 
was the best employ and the highest merit of an accomplished knight. 
Romantic exploit therefore had always a tincture of gallantly. 

It hath been through all ages ever seen, 

That with the praise of arms and chivalry 
The prize of beauty still hath joined been, 

Y\nd tliRt for reasons special privity : 
For either doth on other much rely ; ** 

For he, me seems, most fit the fair to serve, 
That can her best defend from villany ; 

And she most fit his service doth deserve 
That fairest is, and from her faith will never swerve- 

Spenser's Fairy QrEEK. 

3. To- the passion for adventure and romantic love was added a 
high regard for morality and religion ; but as the latter were ever 
subordinate to the former, we may presume more in favour of the 
refinement than of the purity of the knights. It was the pride of a 
knight to redress wrongs and injuries ; but in that honourable employ- 
ment he made small account oY those which he committed. It wafl 
easy to expiate the greatest offences by a penance oi' a pilgrimage, 
which furnished only a ne^v opportunity for adventurous exploit. 

4. Chivjilry, whether it began with the Moors or Normans, attain- 
ed its perfection' nt the period of the crusades, which presented a no 



MODERN HISTORY. 09 

Lie object of adventure, and a boundless field for military glory. 
Few indeed returned from those desperate enterprises; but those had 
a high reward in tlie admiration of their countrymen. Tlie bards and 
romancers sung their praises, and recorded their exploits, with a 
thousand circumstances of fabulous embellishment.^ 

5. The earliest of the old romances (so termed from the Romance 
hnguage, a mixture of <he Frank and Latin, in which they were 
written) appeared about the middle of (he twelfth century, the pei'iod 
of the second crusade. But those more ;uicient compositions did not 
record contemporary events, whose knou'n truth would have preclud- 
ed all liberty of tictibn or exaggerat'on. Geoffrey of Monmouth.., and 
the author who assumed the name of archbishop Turpin, had free 
scope to their fiincy, by celebrating the deeds of Arthur and the 
knights cf the round table, and the exploits of Charlemagne and his 
twelve peers. From the fruitful stock^of those lirst romances sprung 
a numerous offspring equally wild and extravagant. - 

6. Philosophers have analyzed the pleasure arising from works of 
fiction, and have endeavoured, by various hypotheses, to account for 
the interest which we take in the description of an event or scene 
which is known to be utterly impossible. The fact may be simply 
explained as follows. Every narration is in some degree attended 
^vith a dramatic deception. We enter for the time into the situation 
of the persons concerned ; and, adopting their passions and feelings, 
we lose all sense of the absurdity of their cause, while we see the 
agents themselves hold it for reasonable and adequate. The most in- 
credulous sceptic may sympathize strongly with the feelings of Hanv 
let at the sight of his fa tiler's spectre. 

7. Thus powerfully alTocted as we ai^e by sympathy, even against 
the conviction of our reason, how much greater must have been the 
effect of such works of the imagination in those days, when popular 
superstition gave full credit to the reality, or at least the possibility, 
of all that they described ! And hence ne must censure, as both un- 
necessary and improbable, the theory of Dr. Hurd, which accounts 
•for all tb.e wildness of the old romances, on the supposition that their 
fictions were entirely allegorical ; vv'hich explains the giants and sav- 
ages into the oppressive leudai lords and their barbarous dependents; 
as M. Mallet construes the serpents and dragons which guarded the 
enchanted castles, into their winding walls, fosses, and battlements. 
It were sufficient to say, that many of tho.se old romances are inex- 
plicable by allegory. They were received by the popular belief ;is 
truths ; and even their contrivers believed in the possibility of the 
scenes and actions which they described. In latter ages, ancl in the 
wane of superstition, yet while it still retained a powerful inlluence, 
the poeis adopted allegory as a vehicle of moral instruction: and to 
this period belong those political romances which bear an allegorical 
explanation ; as the Fairy Q^ueen of Spenser, tlie Orlando of Ariosto, 
and the Gierusalcmme Libcraki of Tasso. 

8. In more modern times the taste tor romantic composition declin- 
ed with popular credulity ; and the fastidiousness of philosophy affect- 
ed to treat all supernatural fiction with contempt. But it was at 
length perceived that this refinement had cut off a source of very 
high mental enjoyment. The public taste now took a new turn ; and 
this moral revolution is at present lending to its extreme. We are 
gone back to the nursery to listen to tales of hobgoblins ; a change 
which we may safely prognosticate can be of no duration. 



140 MODERN HISTORY. 



SECTION XIX. 

SPATE OF EUROPE IN THE THIRTEENTH AND lOURTEENTH 

CENTURIES. 

1. Constantinople, taken in 1,202 by the crusaders, was possessed 
only for a short lime by its conquerors. It was governed by French 
emperors for the space of sixty years, and was retaken by the 
Greeks in 1,£81, under Michael Falceologus, who, by imprisoning and 
putting out the eyes of his pupil Theodore Lascaris, secured to him- 
self the sovereignty. 

2. In the beginning of the thirteenth century Germany was 
governed by Frederick II., who paid homage to the pope tor the 
kingdom of Naples and Sicily, which was possessed by his son Con- 
rad, and afterwards by his brother Manfred, who usiarped the crown 
in violation of the right of his nephew Conradin. Pope Clement IV,, 
jealous of the dominion of the imperial family, gave the investiture 
of Naples and Sicily to Charles of Anjou, brother of Lewis IX. ot 
France, who defeated and put to death his competitors. The Sicil- 
ians revenged this act of usurpation and cruelty by the murder, in 
one night, of every Frenchman in the island. This shocking massa- 
cre, termed the Sicilian vespers^ liappcned on Easter Sunday, 1,282. 
It was followed by every evil that comes in the train of civil war and 
revolution. 

3. The beginning of the thirteenth century had been signalized 
by a new species of crusade. The Albigenses, inhabitants of Alby 
in the Fays de Vaud,were bold enough to dispute many of the tenets 
of the catholic church, judging them contrary to the doctrines of 
scripture. Innocent III. established a holy commission at Thoulouse, 
with power to try and punish those heretics. The count of Thou- 
louse opposed this persecution, and was, for the punishment of his 
ofience, compelled by the pope to assist in a crusade against his own 
vassals. Simon de Monfort was the leader of this pious enterprise,^ 
which was marked by the most atrocious cruelties. The benetits of 
the lioly commission v/ere judged by the popes to be &o great, that it 
became from that time a permanent establishment, known by the 
name of the inquisition. 

4. The rise of the house of Austria may be dated from 1,274, 
when Kodolphus of Hapsboui'g, a Ssviss baron, was elected emperor 
of Germany. He owed his elevation to the jealousies of the elec- 
toral princes, who could not agree in the choice of any one of them- 
selves. The king of Bohemia, to whom Kodolphus had liecn stew- 
ard of the household, could ill brook the supremacy of his former de- 
pc-adent ; and refusing him the customary homage for his Germanic 
possessions, Kodolphus stripped him of Austria, which has ever since 
remained in the family of its conqueror. 

5. The Italian stale's of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, were at this time 
flourishing and opulent, while most of the kingdoms of Europe (if 
we except England imder Edward I.,) were exhausted, feeble, and 
disorderly. A dawning of civil liberty began to appear in France 
under Philip IV^ {Ic bel). who summoned the third estate to the 
national assemblies, which had hitherto consisted of the nobility and 
clergy, 1,303. Philip established perpetual courts of judicature in 
France, under the name of parliaments. Over these the parliamei^ 



MODERN HISTORY, Ml 

of Paris possessed a jurisdiction by appeal; but it was not till later 
times that it assumed any authority in matters of State. 

6. The parliament of England had before this era begun to assume 
its present constitution. The commons, or the representatives of 
counties and boroughs, were first called to parliament by Henry 
III. Before that time this assembly consisted only of the g,reater 
barons and clei'gy. But of the rise and progress of the constitution 
of Engfand we shall afterwards treat more paticularly in a separate 
section. 

7. The spirit of the popedom, zealous in the maintenance and ex- 
tension of its prerogj'tives, continued much the same in the thirteenth 
and fourteenth, as we have seen it in the three preceding centuries, 
Philip the fair had subjected his clergy to bear their share of the 
public taxes, and prohibited all contributions to be levied by the pope 
m his dominions. This double offence was highly resented by Boni- 
face VIll., who expressed his uidignation by a sentence of excom- 
munication and interdict, and a solemn transference of the kingdom 
of France to the emperor Albert. Philip, in revenge, sent his gen- 
eral Nogaret to Rome, who threw the pope into prison. The 
French, however, were overpowered by the papal troops; and tJie 
death of Boniface put an end to the quarrel. 

8. It is less easy to justify the conduct of Philip the fair to the 
knights templars than his behaviour to pope Boniface. The whole 
of this order had incurred his resentment, from suspicion of harbour- 
ing treasonable designs. He had influence with Clement V. to pro- 
cure a papal bull warranting their extirpation from all the christian 
kingdoms: and this infamous proscription was carried into effect 
over all Europe. Those unfortunate men were solemnly tried, not 
for their real offence., but for protended impieties and idolatrous prac- 
tices, and committed to the flames 1,309 — 1,312. 



SECTION XX. 
REVOLUTION OF SWITZERLAND. 

1. The beginning of the fourteenth century was distinguished by 
the revolution of Switzerland, and the rise of the Helvetic republic. 
The emperor Rodolphus of Hapsbourg was hereditary sovereign 
of several of the Swiss cantons, and governed his slates with much 
equity and moderation. His successor Albert, a tyrannical prince, 
formed the design of annexing the whole of the provinces to his 
dominion, and of erecting them into a principality for one of his 
sons. The cantons of Schweitz, Ury, and Underwald, which had 
always resisted the authority of Austria, combined to assert their 
freedom ; and a small army of 400 or 500 men defeated an immense 
host of the Austrians in the pass of Morgate, 1,315. The rest of the 
cantons by degrees joined the association. With invincible persever- 
ance the united cantons won and secured their dear-bought liberty, 
after sixty pitched battles with their enemies. 

2. Consiiiidion of S-aitzerUaid. The thirteen cantons were united 
by a solemn treaty, which stipulated the proportional succours to be 
furnislied by each in the case of foreign hostility, and the measures 
to be followed for securing the union of the states, and accommodat- 
ing domestic differences. VVhh respect to its internal government 
aiid economy each canton was independent, Of some the constitution 



142 MODERN HISTORY. 

was monarchical, and of others republican. Ail niut'ie.'s touching 
the general league were transacted either by letters sent to Zurich, 
and thence ofticially circulated to all the cantons, or by conferences, 
The general diet, where two deputies attended from each canton] was 
held once a year, the Ih'st deputy of Zurich presiding. The catholic 
and protestant cantons likewise held their separate diets on occasional - 
emergencies. 

3. The Swiss, wlien at peace, employed their troops for hire in 
foreign service, judging it a wise policy to keep alive the military 
spirit of the nation ; and the armies thus employed have been equally 
distinguished for their courage and fidelity. The industry and 
economy of the Swiss are proverbial ; and their country supports an 
abundant population, from the zealous promotion of agriculture and 
manufactures. 



SECTION XXI. 

STATE OF EUROPE IN THE THIRTEENTH, FOURTEENTH, AND 
PART OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURIES. 

1. The rival claims of superiority between tne popes and em- 
perors still continued. Henry V II., the successor of Albert, vindicat- 
ed his right by the sword, triumphantly fought his way to Rome, 
where he was solemnly crowned, and imposed a tribute on all the 
states of Italy. His sudden death was suspected to be the consequence 
of papal resentment. In his time the seat of the popedom was trans- 
ferred by Clement V. from Rome to Avignon, 1,309, where it re- 
mained till 1,377. The factions of Italy were the cause of this re- 
moval. Lewis ot Bavaria, the successor of Henry, deposed and c^x 
communicated by John XXII., revenged himself by deposing the 
pope. This pontiif, who had originally been a cobbler, surpassed 
most of his predecessors in pride and tyranny. He kept his seat on 
the papal chair, and let! at his death an imjnense treasure accumu- 
lated by the sale of benefices ; while his rival the emperor died in 
indigence. 

2. His successor in the empire, Charles iV., published, in 1,355, 
the imperial constitution, termed th". golden bull, the fundamental iaw 
of the Germanic body, which reduced the number of electors to 
seven, and settled on them all the hereditary ofhces of state. The 
electors exemplified their new rights by deposing his son Wenceslaus 
for incapacity, 1,400. Three separate factions of the Fiench and 
Italian cardinals having elected three separate popes, the emperor 
Sigismund judged this division of the church to be a fit opportunity 
for his interference to reconcile all differences, and establish his own 
supremacy. He summoned a general council at Constance in 1,414, 
and endacl the dispute by degrading all the three pontiffs, and naming 
a fourth, Martin Colonna. This division of the papacy is termed 
the great schism of ike ii>est. 

3. The spiritual business of the council of Constance was no less 
important than its temporal. John Huss, a disciple of Wickliff, was 
tried for heresy, in denying the hierarchy, and satirizing the im- 
moralities of the popes and bishops He did not deny the charge, 
and, refusing to confess his errors, was burnt alive. A simila;- fate 
was the po»'tion of his friend and disciple, Jeron> of Prague, who 



MODERN HISTORY. 143 

display ed at his execution the eloquence of an apostle, and the con- 
stancy of a martyr, 1,416. Sigi-smund felt the consequence of these 
horrible proceedings ; for the Bohemians opposed his succession to 
their vacant crown, and it cost him a war of sixteen ycart- to attain it. 
4. Whatever ^vas the imperial power at this time, it derived but 
Sinall consequence from its actual revenues. The wealth of the 
(jeriaianic states was exclusively possessed by iheir separate sove- 
reigns, and the empercr had little more than what he drew from 
Bohemia and Hungary. The sovereignty of Italy was an empty 
title. The interest of the emperor in that country furnished onl^ a 
source of faction to its princes, ami embroiled the states in perpetual 
quarrels. A series of conspiracies and civil tiunuits form the annals 
of the principal cities for above 200 years. Naples and Sicily were 
ruiricd by the weak and disorderly government of the two Joannas. 
A passion which the younger of these conceived for a soldier of the 
name of Sforza raised him to the sovereignty of Milan ; and her 
adoption, first of Aiphonzo of Arragon, and aiterwards of Lewis ot 
Anjou, laid the foundation of those contests between Spain and 
France for the sovereignty of the two Sicilies, which afterwards 
agitated all Europe. 



SECTION XXII. 

HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 

L On the death of John, his son Henry III. succeeded tp the 
crown ot England at nine years of age. He was a prince of ami 
able dispositions, but of weak underslandaig. His_ preference of 
tbreign favourites disgusled his nobles ; and the want of economy in iHi' 
government, and oppressive enactions, deprived him of the affection 
of his people. Montfort earl of Leicester, son of the leader of the 
crusade against ihe Albigenses, and brother-in-law of the king, con- 
ceived a plan I'oi usurping tlie government. He formed a league 
with the barons, on the pretext oi" reibrming abuses, and compelled 
Henry to delegate all the regal ])0wer into the hands of twenty-foiu* 
of their number. These divided among themselves the offices ot 
government, and nesv-modeiied the parliament, by summoning a cer- 
tain number of knights chosen from each county. This measure 
v/as fatal (o their ov.n poMver; for these knights or representatives 
of the people, -indignant at Leicester's usurpatie?), determined to 
restore the royal authority ; and called on prince Edward, a youth 
of intrepid spirit, to avenge his fathers wrongs an<! save the "king- 
d.r.n. 

2. Leicester raised a formidable force, and defeated the royal 
army at Lewes, in Sussex, 1,264, and made both the king and pnnce 
Edward his prisoners. He now compelled the impotent Henry to 
ratify his authority by a solemn treaty. He assumed the character 
of regent, and called a j)arliamer.t, sununoning two knights from 
each of the counties, and depulie^^ iVom the principal boroughs, the 
first regular plan of the English house of commons. This assembly 
exercising its jiist rights, and asserting with firmness the re-establish- 
ment of the ancient government of the kingdom, Leicester judged it 
prudent to release the prince from his confinement. Edward was 
?io sooner at liberty than he took the field against the usurper, who 
w.Tei defeated and «lain In the battle of Evesham, on the 4th day ot 



144 MODERr^ HISTORY. 

August, 1,265. Henry was now restored to his throne by the arffii 
of his gallant son, who, at\er establishing domestic tranquillity, em- 
barked in the last crusade with Lewis IX., and signalized his prowess 
by many valorous exploits in Palestine. He had the honour of coji- 
cluding an advantageous truce for ten years with the sultan of Baby- 
lon, and was on his return to England when he received intelligence 
of his accession to the crown by the death of his father, 1,272. 

3. Eiiward 1. projected the conquest of Wales in the beginning 
of his reign. The Welsh, the descendants of the ancient Britons 
who had escaped the Roman and Saxon conquests, preserved their 
libetty, laws, manners, and language. Their prince, Leweliyu, 
refused his customary homage to the king of England. Edward in- 
vaded Wales, and, surrounding the army of the prince, who retreated 
to the mountains, cut off all his sui>plies, and compelled him to an 
jnqualitied submission. The terms demanded were, the surrender 
of a part of the country, a large sum of money, and an obligation of 
perpetual fea-lty to the crown of England. The Welsh infringed 
this treaty, and Edward marched his army into the heart of the 
country, wh.ere the troops of Lewellyn made a most desperate but in- 
effectual resistance. In a decisive engagement, in 1,283, the prince 
was slain. His brother David, betrayed into the hands of the con- 
queror, was iniiumanly executed on a gibbet ; and Wales, complete- 
ly subdued, was annexed to the crown of England. With a policy 
equa-Uy absurd and cruel, Edward ordered the Welsh bards to be put 
to death v.dierever found; thei'eby ensuring the perpeiuation of their 
heroic songs, and increasing the abhorrence of the vanquished people 
for their barbarous conqueror. 

4. The conquest of Wales inflamed the ambition of Edward, and 
inspired him ^vilh the design of extending his dominion to the ex 
Iremity of the island. The designs of this enterprising monarch on 
the kingdom of Scotland invite our attention to that quarter. 



SECTION XXllI. 

III&TORY OF SCOTLAND FROM THE ELEVENTH TO THK 
FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 

1. The history of Scotland before the reign of Malcolm III., sur- 
named Canmore", is obscure and fabulous. This prince succeeded to 
the tlwone in 1,057 by the defeat of Blacbeth, the murderer of his 
father Duncan. Espousing the cause of Edgar AtheUng, heir of the 
Saxon kin^^s of England, whose sister he married, he thus provoked 
a v/ar >\ilh Willir.m the conqueror, which was equally prejudicial 
to both kingdoms. In an expedition of Malcolm into Englaisd it is 
alleged, that, after concluding a truce, he was compelled by William 
to do homage tor his kingdom. The truth is, that this homage was 
done for the territories in Cumberland and Northumberland woo Isy 
the Scots, and held in vassalage of the English cro^vn ; though this 
homage was afterwards absurdly made the pretext of a claim of 
feudal sovereignty over all Scotland. In a reign of tAvenly-seven 
years Malcolm supported a spirited contest with England, both under 
William I. and his son Rufus ; and to the virtues of his queen Mai'- 
garet, his kingdom, in its domestic policy, owed a degree of civilisa- 
tion remarkable in those ages of barbarism. 



MODERN HISTORY. M5 

2. Alexander I., his son and successor, defended, with equal spirit 
and good policy, the indt-peadence ot h\< kingioiri, and hi- son 
D.ivid I., celehiMted oven by t!ie democratic i^.iicii.uiau a^ an honour 
to nis connti'V and lo ni(/narchy. won tVom rilepiien, and annexed to 
Ids crown, the wliole earldom ot" Morlhiimherhmd. In those rei^n* 
we hear of no claim of tlie feudal snlijection of Scotland U> the 
crown of England; thon^h the accidental fortune of war al'unwards 
(hniished a ground for it. William i., (the hon), taken i)risoner at 
Ainwicli liy ilem-y 11., was compelled, as the pricp of his release, to 
do homage for his wliole kingdom; an ohiigation which his succes- 
sor Richard voluntarily discharged, deeming it to have been unjustly 
extorted. 

:>. On the death of Alexander 111. without male issue, in 1,285, 
fh'uce and Raliol, descendants of JJ-uid 1. by the female line, were 
competitors lor the crown, and the pretensions of each were support- 
ed by a formidable party in the kingdom. Edward 1. of England, 
diosen umpire of the contest, arrogated to himself, in that character, 
the feudal sovereignty of the kingdom, compelling all the b.irons lo 
swear allegiance to him, and taking actual possession of the country 
by his troops. He then adjudged the crown to Raliol, on the expres:- 
condition of his swearing fealty to him as lord paramount. Baliol, 
however, soon after renouncing his allegiance, the indignant Edwari' 
invaded Scotland with an immense force, and compelled the vveaj< 
prince to abdicate the throne, and resign the kingdom into his hands 

4. William Wallace, one of the greatest heroes whom history \q 
cords, restored the tallen honours of his country. Joined by a feu 
patriots, his hrst successes in attacking the English giirrisons broughl 
numbers to his patriotic standard, 'iheir successes were signal and 
co:ispicuous. Victory followed upon victory. While Edward was 
engaged on the continent, his troops were utterly defeated in a des- 

fierate engagement at Stirling, and forced to evacuate the kingdom. 
Valliice, the deii\'e."er of his country, now assumed the title ot" gov- 
ernor of Scotland under Baliol, who was Edward's prisoner; a dis- ■ 
tinction which was foilowed by the envy and disallection of many ni 
the nobles, and the consequent diminution of his army. The .Scots 
were defeated a'. Falkii'k. Edward returned with a vast accession <>l 
force. After a fruitless resistance the Scottish barons tiortfiyoblain'-d 
peace by a ciipitulalion, from which the brave Wal-'^ice was exceph'd 
by name. A fugitive for some tin)e, he was belrayed into the hand- of 
Edward, who put him to <leat!i, with every circumstance of cruelly 
that bai barons revenge coiWd dictate, 1,::U-1. 

5. Scotland found a second champion and deliverer in Robert 
Bru;e, the grandson of the competitor with Baliol; who, deeply re- 
santing the humi iation of his country, once more set up the standaid 
of war, and gave defiance to the Eaiglish monarch, to Avhom his 
father and grandfather had meanly sworn allegiance. Under this in- 
trepid leader the spirit of' the nation was roused at once. The Rng- 
lish were attacked in every quarter, and once more entirely driven 
out of the kingdom. Robert Bruce was crowned king at Scoiie, 
1,,}(JG. Edward was advancing with an immense arnjy, and died at 
Carlisle on the 7th day of July, 1,307. He enjoined it with hit l.ist 
breath to his .son, Edward II., to prosecute the war with the Scots to 
the entire reducUou of the country. 

N 19 



(46 MODERN HISTORY. 

SECTION XXIV. 
HI.STORY OF ENGLAND IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 

1 I.v the reign of Edward 1. we observe the constitution of Eng- 
land gnuhially advancing. The commons had been adnsilted to par- 
liament in the latter period of his father Henry ill. A statute was 
passed by Edward, Avtiich declared, that no tax or impost should be 
levied without the consent of lords and commons. Edward ratified 
the Magna Cliarta no less than eleven times in the course of his reign ; 
and henceforward this fundamental huv ])egan to be regarded as sa- 
cred and unaltcralde. 

2. Edward U. was in character the very opposite ol' Jus father; 
weak, indolent, and capricious; but of humane and !)enevolent afl'cc- 
tions. He disgusted his nobles by his attachment to mean and unde- 
serving favourites, wiiom he raised to the highest dignities of the 
state, and honoured with his exclusive confidence. ' Ejers Gaveslon, 
a vicious and trilling minion, whom the king appointed regent when 
on a journey to Paris to marry Isa!:ella, daughter of Philip the I'air, 
disgusted the barons to such a pitch, that they compelled tlie king to 
delegate ail the authority of government to certain commissionei's, and 
to abandon his iavourite to their resentment. He was doomed to 
perpetual imprisonment, and, on attempt to escape, was seized and 
ueheaded. 

3. Edward, in obedience to his father's will, invaded Scotland witli 
an army of 100,000 men. King Eobert Bruce met this immense 
force with 30,000 men at Bannocldiurn, and defeated them with pro- 
digious slaughter. This important victory secured the independence 
ct Scotland. Edward escaped by sea to his own dominion*. Anew 
favourite, Spenser, supplied the place of Gaveston; but his niujcsei',- 
ed elevation and overbearing cliaraclcr completed the disalleciion < 1' 
the nobles to their sovereign. The queen, a vicious adulteress, j(,iri- 
ed the malcontents, and, passing over to Erance, obtained from her 
brother Charles IV. an' army to invade England, r.nd detiirone her 
husband. Her enterprise was successful. Spenser and his lather 
were betrayed inlo the hands of their enemies, and perislied on a 
scaiTold. The king was taken prisoner, tried by parliament, and sol- 
emnly deposed; and being confined to prison, was soon alter put to 
death in a manner shocking to humanity, 1,327. 

4. Edward HI., crowned at fourteen years of age, could not submit 
to the regency of a mother stained with the foulest of crimes, llis 
fathers deadi was revenged by the perpetual impri.?oimient of Isabel- 
la, and the public execution of her paramour Rlorlimer, Bent on the 
conquest oi Scotland, Edward marcfied to the nortli with a prodigious 
army, vanquished the Scots in the battle oi" Halidoun-hill, and placed 
on the throne Edward Baliol, his vassal and tributary.. But the king- 
dom was as repugnant as ever to the rule of England, and a favonra- 
hle opportunity was taken for the renewal of hostilities, on the depait- 
nre oi' Edward for a foreign enterprise, vvh.ich ga\e full scope to his 
ambition. 

5. On the death of (Charles IV^. without male issue, the crown of 
France was claimed by Edward III. of England, in rigbt of nis moth- 
er, the sister of Charles, while, in the mean time, the throne was oc 
cupied by the male heir, Philip of Valois. F./^hvard fitted out an im- 



MODEll^N' lli^yi'OiH. 14'. 

merise armamont by sea and land, and, obtaining a signal victory over 
the French lloet. landed on the coast of Normandy, and with Hi.« son, 
the hlack prince, nin a careor of the most glorious exploits Philip, 
Willi 100,000 rni-n, mot the English with 30,000, nnd was entirely de-' 
ieated in the tieid of Cressy, August ~i', l,o4o. Calais \v;is taken by 
Ihe English, and remained in their pissf.ssion 210 ye.irs. The En- 
glish are said io have (irsi used artiiiery in the battle ol'Cres^y. Uro 
arms were tlien but a recent invention (1,340), and have nmch con- 
tiitjuted to lessen both the slaughter and the frequency of wars. Mr. 
1 lame well observes that war is now reduced nearly to a matter ol 
taiciiialion. A nation knows its power, and, when overnratchetl, 
tit.iiur yields to its enemies, or securt's itself by ahiance. 

ti. The Scots in the n^ean time inva.ded England, and were defeated 
in the battle of Durham by Fhilippa, the heroic queen of Edward 111. ; 
a:i;l iheir sovereign David II. was led prisoner to Londo.;. A truce 
concluded Ifetween Edward and Philip was dissolved by the death ol 
liie latter. Philip was succe ;ded by his son John, vv'ho took the field 
uith 1-0,000 men against the black prince, and was defeated by him 
with a fi;- inferior number in thesignal biittle of Poictiers, September 
1;>, ]y.>i>6. Jphn king of i'rance was led if triumph to London, the 
feilou'-prisoner of David king of Scotland. But England derived from 
tliose victories nothing but honour. The French continued the war 
with great vigour durinsj the captivity of their sovereign, who died 
in London in l,oo4. They obtainei! a peace by the cession to the 
Englisii of Poitou, St. Onge, Ferigord and other provinces; and Ed- 
ward consented to renounce his claim to the crown of France. The 
death of the black prince, a most heroic and virtuous miui, plunged 
t^ nation in grief, and broke the spirits of his father, who did not long 
survive iiini. ♦• * -• ••" 

^7. Uichard IL siicceeded his grandfather, in 1,377, at the age ol 
eleven. Uiiaries Vi. soon after becajrie king of France at tlv; age 
of twelve. Loth kingdoms suffered from the distractions attending a 
regal minority. In England the contests lor power between the 
king's uncles, Lancaster, York, and Gloucester, embroiled all public 
measures; arai the consequent disorders required a stronger hand to 
compose them than that of the weak and facile Richard. Taking 
advantage of the king's absence, then engaged in quelling an insur- 
rection m Ireland, Plenry of Lancaster rose in open rebellion, and 
compelleil Richard, at his return, to resign the crown. The parlia- 
ment coniirmed his deposition, and he was soon after privately* assas- 
sinated. Thus began the contentions between the houses of York 
and Lancaster. 



SECTION XXV. 

ENGLAND AND FRANCE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 
STATE OF M.\NNERS; 

1. IIknky IV. ascended the throne on the deposition of Richard II., 
|,3;''9; and had Immediately to combat a rebellion raisefl by the earl 
of Norlhumberland, for placing iMortirner, the heir of the house ol 
York, on the tlu-one. The Scots and Welsh took part with tlie rebels, 
but their united forces were defeated at Shrewsbury, and their lead 
er, youiig Percy (Hotspur), killed on the tieid. A'second rebellion 



148 MODERN HIS'l\)lii:. 

headed by the archbishop of York, was qyelled by the capital punish, 
ment o{ its author. The secular arm was rigorously extended 
;i^;iiti<( the foUovvors of Wirklin, :in(i tl.i.s reign saw the rirst detestable 
oxiiiopit'S ol' iViii;Jous per^^ucution. Tiie lii'e ot'lienry was imbitler- 
ed Ity t!ie youlhful di^i.-rders of his son the prince of Wales, who 
alkruards nobly redeemed his cliaracter. I4enry iV. died in 1,413, 
at the age of forty-six. 

2 IJenry V. took advantage of the disorders of France, from the 
temporary" insjinity of its sovereign Charles VI., and the factious 
strugjjics for power between the dukes of Burgundy and Orleans;, 
lo invade the kinjulom with a large army,/ which a contagious dis- 
temper wastcMi down lo a llilh of its numbel^s : jet with this handiul 
of resolute and hardy troops, he tlefeatod the Fi-ench army of60.U(J0, 
under tlie constable D'Alberl, in the lamous battle of Agincourt, in 
whicli 10,OUU of the enemy were sUiin, ;aid 14,U(J0 made prisoners, 
October 24, 1.415. Returning to Kngland to recruit his Ibrces, he 
landed again with an army of 25,000, and I'onght his way to Faris. 
The insan.^ monarch, with his court, tied lo Troye, and fienry pur- 
suing, terminated tlie war by a treaty with t'»e (jueen-mother of 
the diike rf IJurgundy, by which it was agreed that he should many 
(tie daughter of Charles VI., and receive the king<lcm of France as 
her (low ry, which, till the death of her ialher, he should govern as 
regent. 

a Mean time the return of Henry to Kngland gave the dauphin 
liopes of the recovery of his kingdom. He was victorious in an 
engagement with the English under the duke of ("larence ; but Ids 
Sjiccess \vas of no longer duration than the altsence of ihe English 
sovereign, who was himself hastonmg to the period of his triumphs. 
Seized with a mortal distemper, Heiiry nTefrin ifie'J^h year ol ids 
age, %422, 0!ie oi' the most heroic princes that over swayed tire 
sceptre of England. His brother, Uie duke of Fi; dford, was declared 
regent of France, and Henry VI., an inlimt rdne months obi, was pro- 
claimed king at Faris and at London, 1,422. 

4. Charl<>s \.'Il. recovered France by slow degrees. With the aid 
of a yuung female enth\isiast, ihe maid of Orle;in>, wliom the credu- 
lity of the ago supposed to be inspired by Heav<-n, he gained several 
inipoitanl advantages over the English, which the latter iuluimaidy 
revenged, by burning this heroine as a sorceress. Her death was of 
equal advantage lo the Frer.ch as her life had been. The goveiii- 
ment of the English was universally detested. After a struggle of 
many yeai-s, they were at length, in 1,450, deprived of all that they 
had ever possessed in France, except Calais and Cuignes. Charles, 
when he had restored his kingdom to peace, governed it with auini- 
rabie wisd(»ni and mo<leration. 

5. The state of England and of France, the tw;o most polished 
kingdonis in Europe, turnishes a good criterion of the condition of 
society in t-bose ages of which we have been treating. Even in 
the large cities the houses were roofed with thatch, and had no 
chimni(!s. Glass windows were extremely rare, and the floors 
were covered with straw. In England wine was sold only in tiiC 
shops of the apothecaries. Paper made fem linen rags was first 
manufactured in the beginning «f the lifteenth century ; and the u^e 
of lincMi tor shirts was at that\ime a very rare piece of luxury. 
Vet even bclbre that age the pro>;ress of luxury had excited a se- 
rious alarm, ti)r.the parliament under Edward Hi. found it necessary 
to prohibit the use of gold and siber in apparel to all who bad no! 



WOJUEKIM HISTORV. 149 

a hundred pounds a year; and Charles VI. of France ordained, that 
none shuuld presume to entertain witli more than two dishes and a 
me>is vt soup. HeCore the reign of Edward I. the whole country of 
England was plundered by robbers in great bands, who laid waste 
entire villages; and some o(" the hoasehold ofhcers of Henry III. 
excused themselves for roi)bing on the highway, because the king 
allov\ ed thein no wages. In l,o03 the abbot and monks of Westmin- 
ster were indicted for robbin- the ■king''s exchequer, but acquitted. 
Tiie admirable laws of Edward 1., which acquired him the title of 
tlie English Justinian, give strong testimony of the miserable policy 
and barbarism of the preceding times 



SECTION XXVI. 

DECLINE AND I'ALL OF THE GREEK EMPIRE. 

1. In the fourteenth century the Turks were proceeding by de- 
grees to encroach on the tronliers of the Greek empire. The sul- 
tan Ottoman had fixed the seat of his government at Byrsa in Hi 
Ihynia; and his son Orcan extended his sovereignty to the PropontiiS, 
Hud obtamed in marriage the daughter of the emperor John Canta- 
cuzenos. About the middle of the century the Turks crossed over 
mto Europe, and took Adrianof)le. The emperor John Palaiologus, 
after meanly soliciting aid from the pope, concluded a humiliating 
treaty with sultan Amurat, and gave his son as a hostage to serve in 
the Turkish army. 

. 2. Bajazet, the successor of Amurat, compelled the emperor to 
destroy his fort of Galata, and to admit a Turkish judge into the city. 
He propr.refl now to besiege Constantinople in tbrm, when he was 
forced to change his purpose, and defend himself against the victorious 
Tamerlane. 

,3. Timur-bek or Tamerlane, a prince of the Usbek Tartars, and 
descended from Gengiskan, after the conquest of Persia, a great part 
of India and Syria, was invited by the Asiatic princes, enemies ol 
Bajazet, to protect them against the Ottoman power, which threaten- 
cdto overwhelm them. Tamerlane, flattered by this request, im- 
periously summoned the Turk to renounce his conquests ; but the 
message was answered with a proud defiance. The armies met near 
Angoria (Ancyra) m Phrygia, and Bajazet was totally defeated and 
made prisoner by Tamerlane, 1,402. The conqueror made Samar 
cand the capital of his empire, and there received the homage of all 
the princes ol" the east. Tamerlane was illiterate, but yet was solici- 
lit)us for the cultivation of literature and science in his dominions. 
Samarcand became ibr a while the seat of learning, politeness, and 
the arts; but was destined to relapse, after a short period, into its 
ancient barbarism. 

4. I'he Turks, after the death of Tamerlane, resumed their pur- 
pose of destroying the empire of the east. Amurat II., a prince of 
singular character, had, on the futh of a solemn treaty with the 
king of Poland, devoted his days to retirement and study. A viola- 
tion of the treaty, by an attack from the Poles on his dominions, made 
him quit his solitude. He engaged and destroyed the Polish army, 
with their perlidious sovereign, and then calmly returned to his re- 
treat, till a similar crisis of public expediency once more brought 
him into active life. He left his dominions to his son Mahomat It 
N2 



160 MODERN HISTORY. 

sumamcd the great, who resumed the project for fhe destruction of 
Constantinople ; but its ihll wiis a second time retarded by the neces- 
sity in which the Tuiks were unexpectedly placed, of del'ending 
tlieir own dominions against a powerful iiivader. 

5. Scanderheg (John Castrioi) prince of Alnania, wJicse terriloriej! 
had been seized liy Annirat 11., was educated l»y Iht sullan as his 
own chii<l. and when ot" age, intrusted with Ih^ command ol' an 
srmy, which he employed in wrestitig from Anmrat his paternal 
kingdom, 1,443. By great talents and military >l\iil he mainlaincd 
his independent sovereignty against the whole Force oi' the I'urki-li 
empire. 

G. ;i\hihomet II., son of the philosophic Atnurat, a youth of t'.ven- 
ty-one years of age, resumed the plan of extinguishing the empire 
of the Greeks, and making Constantinople the cap'tal of the Otto- 
man power. Its indolent inhalilants made hut a leehle preparation 
lijr defence, and the powers of Europe louked on with supine indit- 
ference. The Turks assailed the city hcth by land and sea ; and, 
battering down its walls with their cannrn, entered sword in hand, 
and massacred ail who opposed them. The emperor Constant ine 
was slain; the city snrrende^rod ; and thus was finally extinguished 
the eastern empire of the ivomans, A. D. 1,453, which, trom the 
building of its cajjital by Constantino tne great, had subsisted 1,123 
years. The imperial edifices were preserved from destruction. 
The churches were converted info mosques; but the exercise of 
their religion was allowed to all the cluistiaijs. I'rom that time the 
Greek christians have regularly chosen their own patriarch, w horn 
the sultan instals; though his authority continues to be disputed by 
the Latin patriarch, who is chosen by the pope. Mali jniet the great 
hber.dly patronized the arts and sciences; and, to compensate for 
the migration of those learned Greeks, who, on the i'all of the empire, 
spread themselves over the countries of Europe, invited both artists 
and men of letters lo liis capital from other kingdoms. 

7. The taking of Constantinople was ibllowcd by the conc|uest of 
Gpeece and Epirus. Italy might probably have met a similar tate, but 
by means of their ileet the Venetians opposed the arms of Mahomet 
with considerable success, and even attacked him in Greece. The 
contending powers soon aiter put an end to hostilities by a treaty. 
Mahomet the great died at the age of fifty-one, 1,481. 



SECTION XXVll. 

GOVERNMENT AND POLICY OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 

1 The government of Turkey is an al solute monarchy, tlie 
whole legislative and executive authority of the state centering in 
the sultan, whose power is subject to no constitutional control. Jt is, 
however, limited in some degree by religious opinion; the precepts 
of the Coran inculcating certain duties on the sovereign, which it 
would be held an impiety to transgrjss. It is yet more strongly limit- 
ed by the fear of deposition and assassination. Under these restraints 
the prince can se'ldom venture on an extreme abuse of power. 

2. The spirit of the people is fitted for a subjection bordering on 
slavery. Concubinage being agreeable to the law of Mahomet, the 
-grand seignior, the viziers, are born of female slaves : and there is 
•iKarcely a subject of the empire of inges-uous bloxl by both iiarents. 



MODEKIS HISTOKY. 151 

It is a fundamental maxim of the Turkish policy, that all the otficers 
of stnte should be such as the sultan can entirely command, and at 
any time destroy, witiiout danger to himself. 

3. The grand vizier is usually entrusted with the whole functions 
of goveriunent, and of coui>e subjected to the sole responsil.iiity for 
all public measures. Subordinate to him are six vi/.iers of lli« bench, 
who are Ids counsel and assessors in cases of ia.v, of wliich he is 
supreme judge. The power of the grand vizier is abM)lutH over all 
the subj.'cLs of the empire ; but he cannot put to de;itli a begler- 
beg or a basiiaw without the imperial signature ; nor puiish a jani- 
zary, uidess through t!je medium of his military commaiidec. '1 ne 
beglerbegs are the governor^ of several provinces, the l)ashaw> of 
a single province. All dignities in the Tuliish empire are personal, 
and dependent on the sovereign's pleasure. 

4. The revenues of the grand seignior arise from taxe? and cus- 
toms hiid on the subject, annual tributes paiil by the Tartars^ iitated 
gills from the governors of the provinces, and, aI)ove all, thR roofifi. 
cations of estates, from the viziers and bashaws downwards 'n the 
lowest subjects of the empire. Tiie certain and fixed revenu'^s ol 
the sovereign are small in comparison of those which are arbiirary. 
His absolute power enables him to execute great projects at a iuiull 
expense. 



SECTION XXVIII. 

FRANCE AND ITALY IN THE END OF THE FIFTEENTH 
CENTURY. 

1. Scarcely any vestige of the ancient feudal government now 
remained in France. The only subsisting tiefs were Burgundy and 
Brittany. Charles the bold, duke of Burgundy, who sought to in- 
crease his territories by the conquest of iLwitzerhmd and Lorraine, 
was defeated by the Swiss, and killed in battle. He left no so;), and 
Lewis XI. of France took possession of Burgundy as a male lief, 
1,417. The duke's daughter married Maxiniiiian, son of the empe- 
ror Frederick III , who, by this marriage, acquired the sovereignty 
of the Netherlands. 

2. The acquisition of Burgundy and of Provence, which was be 
queathed to France by the count de la Marciie, increased very great- 
ly the power of the crown. Lewis XI., an odious compound of vice, 
cruelty, and superstition, and a tyrant to his people, was the author 
of many vvise and excellent regulations of public policy- The Itai- 
barity of the public executirns in his reign is beyond all belief; yet 
the wisdom of his laws, the encouragement which he gave to com- 
merce, the restraints which he im-posed on the oppressions of the 
nobility, and the attention which he liestowed in regulating ihtj courts 
ol justice, must ever be mentioned to his honour. 

3. The coimt de la Marche, beside the beq:iest of Provence to 
Lewis XI., left him his empty title of sovereign of the Two Sicilies. 
Lewis was satisfied with the substantial gift; but his son Charles 
Vlll. was dazzled with the shadow. In the beginning of his reign 
he projected the cov.quest of Naples, and embarked in the enterprise 
with the most improvident precipitancy. 

., 4. The dismembered state of Italy was favourable to his views 



152 MOBEiix^ HiSTURY. 

The popedom, during the transference of Us seat to Avigron, had 
lost many of its territories. !\Iantna, Modena, and Ferra'-a, had t'.ieir 
independent sovereigns. Piedmont belonged to the duke of Savoy; 
Genoa and Milan to the tlimily of Sforza. Florence, under the Medi- 
ci, had attained a very high pitch of spiendonr. Cosmo, the iounder 
ot'that tamily, erai)loyed a vasf fortune, acquired by commerce, in 
the improvement of his country, in acts of public muniticence, and in 
the cultivation of the sciences and elegant arts. His high reputation 
«)btained for himself and his posterity the chief authority in his native 
state. Peter da Medici, his great grandson, ruled in Florence at the 
period of the expedition of Charles VIU. into Italy. 

5. The papacy was enjoyetl at this time by Alexander VI., a mon 
sterof wirkednes*. The pope and the duke of Milan, who had invited 
Charles to this enterprise, immediately betrayed him, and joined the 
interest of the king of Naples. Charles, after besieging the pope in 
llo.ne, and forcing him to submission, devoutly kissed his teet. lie 
now marciied against Naples, while its timid prince Alphonso lied to 
Sicily, and his son to the isle of Iscnia, afler absolving his sul.jecta 
from their allegiance. Charles entered Naples in triumph, and was 
liailed emperor and Augustus: but ha lost his new kingdom in almost 
as short a time as he liad gained it. A league was Ibrmed against 
France betsveiu the pope, the emperor Maximilian, Ferdinand of Ar- 
ragon, Isabella of Castile, and the Venetians; and on the return of 
Charles to France, the troops which he had left to guard his conquest 
weie entirely driven out of itai}.^ 

6. it has been remarked that, from the decisive effect of t Ids con 
federacy against Charles VIU. , the sovereigns of Europe derived a 
•jseiul lesson of policy, and iirst adopted the idea of preserving a bal- 
ance of power, by that tacit league which is understood to be always 
subsisting, for the prevention of the inordinate aggrandizement of any 
particular state. 

7. Charles VIU. died at the age of twenty-eight, 1,498; and, leav- 
ing no children, the duke of (Orleans succeeded to the thronb oi 
France by the tiile of Lewis XII 



SECTION XXIX. 

HISTORY OF SPAIN IN THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH. 

CENTURIES. 

1. Wk go back a little to the midtlle of the fourteenth century, to 
trace the history of Spain. Peter of Caslile, surnamed the cruel, for 
no other reason but that he employed severe means to support his 
just rights, had to contend against a bast;!rd brother, Henry ol Trans- 
tamarre, who, with the aid of a French handilti, called Maiandrius, 
led by Bertrand du Cnesclin, strove to di^pohsess him of his kingdom. 
Peter was aided by Edward the black prince, then sovereign of Uui- 
enne, wno djleated Transtamarre, and look Bertrand prisoner; but, 
on the return of Ihj prince to England, Peter was attacked by his 
former enemies, and entirely defeated. Unable to restrain hi«' rage 
m the tirst view with Transtamarre, the latter put him to death with 
his own hand, 1,363 ; and thus this usurper secured ibi himself and 
hid posterity the throne of Caslile. 

2. The weakness and debauchery of one of his descendants, Hen- 
ry IV. ol' Castile, occasioned a revolution in the kingdom. The ma' 



MOJ)EKiN HISTORY. Ib'J 

jority of the nation rose in rebellion; the assembly of the nobles sol- 
emnly deposed their king, and, on the alleged ground of his daughter 
lo;iiin;i being a baslanl, compelled him to settle the crown on iiis sis- 
ter Isabella. They next brought about a marriage between Isabella 
and Kerdinand of Arragon, which united (lie monarchies of Arragon 
and Caslile'. After a ruinous civil war the revolution was at length 
cou)plel('d tjy the death of the deposed sovereign, 1,474, and the re- 
(irement of iiis daughter Joanna to a monastery, 1,479. 

A. At the accession of Ferdinand and Isabella (o the thron<;s of Ar- 
ragon and Castile, Spain \Yas in a state of great disorder, from the 
lawless depredations of the nobles and their vassals. It was the first 
object of the tievv sovereigns to repress these enormities, by subject- 
ing the offenders to the utmost rigour of law, enforced by the sword. 
The holy brUherhood was instituted for the discovery and punishment 
of crimes; and the inquisition (Sect. XIX, & 3), under the pretext ot 
extirpating heresy and impiety, afforded the most detestable exam- 
ples of sanguinary })ersecution. 

4. The Sloorish kingdom of Granada, a most splendid monarchy, 
but at that time weakened by faction, and a prey to civil war, oflerea 
a tempting object to the ambition of Ferdinand and Isabella. Alboa- 
cen was at war with his nepLevv' Aboabdeli, who wanted to dethrone 
him; and Ferdinand aided Aboabdeli, in the view of ruining both; 
for no sooner was the latter in possession of tl>e crown by the death 
of Alboaccn, than Ferdinand invaded his ally with the whole force of 
Arragon and Castile. Granada was besieged in 1,491, and, al'ler a 
blor.kade of eight months, surrendered to the victor. Aboabdeli, by 
a mean capitulation, saved his life, and purchased a retreat for hi3 
countrymen to a mountainous part of the kingdom, where they were 
sufllbred to enjoy unmohsted their laws and their religion. Thus 
ended the dominion of the Moore in Spain, which had subsisted for 
8t)U years. 

5. Ferdinand, from that period, took the title of king of Spain. In 
1,492 he expelled all the Jews from his domhiions, on the absurd 
ground, that they kept in their hands the commerce of the kingdom 
and Spain thus lost above loU.UUO of the most industrious of her in- 
habitants. The exiles spread themselves over the other kingdoms oi 
Ftirope, and were often the victims of a persecution equally inhuman. 
It would appear that Spain has felt, even to the present limes, the ef- 
fects of this folly, in the slow progress of the arts, and that deplora- 
ble inactivity which is the characteristic of her people. Even the 
discovery of the new world, which happened at this very period, and 
which stimulated the spirit of enterprise and industry in all the neigh- 
bouring kingdoms, produced but a feeble impression on that nation, 
which might in a great degree have monopolized its benefits. Of 
that great discovery we shall afterwards treat in a separate section 



SECTION XXX. 

FRA>X'E, SPAIN, AND ITALY, IN THE END .OF THE FIF- 
TEENTH AND BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 

1. Lewls XII., eagerly bent on \indicaung his right to Naples, 
:oiirled the interest ol" pope Alexander VI., who promised his aid on 
:ondition that his natural son, Caesar Borgia, sliould receive from 
'utwis the duchy of Valentinois, with the king of Navarre's sistei' in 

20 



Ib4 BlODEKiN' HiSTOllY. 

marriage. Lewis crossed the Alps, and in tlie space of a kw days 
wa« master of Milan ami Genoa. Slbr/.a (hike ol' Milan became his 
prisoner lor iiJe. Ai'raid ol'llie power oi' I'erdinand ol' Spain, 'L.euis 
joined with liim in the conquest ol' Naphs, and agreed to (li\ide 
with him liie conqnered dominions, the pope making no scrui)le to 
sau;lion tiie partition. But the compromise was of no duration; 
for Alexander VJ., and Ferdinand, Jiulging it a l)elter policy to share 
Italy between themselves, uniled their interest to depiive Lev\is 
of his new territories. The Spaniards, under Gonsalvo tie Cordova, 
deiealed the French, under the duke de iNemours and the cheva.ier 
J>ajard ; anil Lewis irrecoverably lost iiis share of the kingdom ol 
Najiles. 

2. History relates wilh horror the crimes of pope Alexander V'., 
and his son CaRsar Borgia; their murders^ robberies, prolimatious, 
iiicests. I'hey compassed their ends in atta.ining evei'y oiject cl' 
tiieir ambition, but with the universal abhorrence of mankind, and 
linally met with an ample retribution for (heir crimes. The pope 
died by poison, prepared, as was alleged, by himself lor an enemy ; 
and Borgia, stripped of all iiis possessions by pope Julius 11., and sent 
liijsoncr to Spain by Gonsaivo de Cordova, perished in miserable 
obscurity. 

3. .Jiniiis 11., die successor of Alexander, projected the formidable 
league of Caml.'ray, 1,5U8, wilh the emp<'ror, the kings of 1 ranee . 
and Spain, the duke of Savoy, and king of HungaVy, for the destruc- 
tion of Venice, and the division of her territories among the coiift d- 
erates. Tiiey accomplished in part their design, and Venice was on 
tiie vergj of annihilation, when the pope changed his politics. 
Having made the French subservient to Ids views of plundering the 
\ enelians, he now formed a new league v.iih the Venetians, (ser- 
mans, and Spaniards, to expel the French from Italy, and appropriate 
ail their conquests. The Swiss and the f^nglish c-o-operated in ibis 
design. The French made a brave resistance under their generals 
Bayard and Gaston de Foix, but were linally. overpowered. Lewis 
was compelled to evacuate Italy; i-'erdinand, with tl:e aid of Heiu-y 
Vlll. of EnglanJ, stripped him of Na\arre, and forced him to pur- 
chase a peace. He died in 1,515. Though unfortunate in his nniita- 
ry enterprises, from tlie superior abilities of his rivals pope .'ulius 
Hcd Ferdinand, yet he was justly esteemed by his subjects foi the 
>\isdom and equity of his government. 



SECTION XXXI. 

HISTORY OF ENGLAND FROM THE MIDDLE OF "WE 
FIFTEENTH TO THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH 
CENTURY. CIVIL WARS OF YORK AND LANCASTER. 

L We have seen France recovered from the English in the early- 
part of the reign of Henry VI., by the talents and prowe.ss of Charles 
VJll. During tiie minority of Henry, who was a prince of no capa- 
city, England was embroiled by tlie factious contention for power 
between^his uncles, the duke of Gloucester and the cardinal of Uin- 
chester. The latter, to promote his own views of ambition, married 
. Henry to Margaret of Anjou, daughter of liegner the titular king ol 
Naples, a woman of great mental endowments and singular heroism 



MODERN HISTORY. !55 

of chanicter, but whose severity in the persecution of her (!ncmics 
alieniitcd a great pail of tlic nolilos iVom their allegiance, and in- 
creased the partisans of a lival claimant of" the crown. 

2. This was iiichard duke of York, doeccnded by hi~ mother from 
I jonel, -econd sonof Echvard 111., and elder bro'her to John of Gaunt, 
the progenitor of Henry Vi. 'I'he white rose disllnguislied the tiic- 
tion of Vork, and the red rose lliai of Lancaster. The party ot 
York {gained mtich strength from the incapacity of Henry, wiiowas 
.=;uiiject to periodical madness; and Itichard was appointed iieuleuant 
and protector of the kingdom. The authority of Henry was now 
anniiiilatcd; but Alargaret roused her husband, in an interval ol 
sanity, to assert his right; and the nation was divided in arms be- 
tween the rival parties. In the battle of St. Albans 5,U0t) of the 
Lancastrians wei'C slain, and the king was taken jirisoner by the duke 
o{ York, on the 22d day of May, 1,455. Yet the parliament, ^v!lile 
It confirmed the authority of the protector, maintained its allegiance 
to the king. 

3. The spirit of the queen reanimated tlie royal parly ; antl the 
Lancr.strians gained such advantage, that the duke of York tied to 
Ireland, while his causo was secretly maintained in England by Guv 
earl of Warwick, in the hattle of Nortlia.mpton the party of \ ork 
again prevailed, and Henry once more w;is in-onght pristiuer to Lon- 
don; while ids dauntless queen siiil !v;!)iy exerted herself to retrieve 
ids Ibrtunes. York now c!;'.i;ti ! ' - • v lown in open parliament, but 
prevailed only to have his ri_^'.i' .4.1;-,. ~^ion ascertained ou Hcnry'g 
death, to the "exclusion of the luy.ii i^-ue. 

4. In the next battle the dul^o of York was slain, and his party de- 
lated • but his successor Edward, supj;orted by Warwick, avenged 
this disaster by_ a signal victory near Tout/n, in Yorkshire, in 
which 40,01)0 of tiiC Lanc;istrians wero shiin. York wiis proclaimed 
king by the title of Edw..:'d l\'., while riiai'gr.rci, wi.li her tlethroned 
husoand and inlant son, lied into i-'landers. 

5. Edwai^d, who owed his crown to. Warwick, was ungrateful 
to his benelactor; raid the imprudence and i-.^iustice of his conduct 
forced tfrat nobleman at length to take p;irt witu J:,-^ faction of I..an- 
caster. The consequence was, that, after S(.ine •^Irng^iC?, Ed»vard 
xvas deposed, and iienry \'l. once more restored to the throne by 
the hands of Warwick, now known by the epithet of the king-maker. 
lint this change was of no duration. The party of York ultimately 
prevailed. The Lancastrians were defeated in'the battle of Barnet, 
and the brave Warwick v, as slain in the engagement. 1,472, 

C. The intrepid jMargaret, whose spirit was superior to every 
change of fortune, prepared to strike a last blow for the crown of 
England in the battle of Tewksl)ury. The event was fatal to her 
hopes: victory dcc'ared fur Edwani. Margaret was sent prisoner to 
the lower of London; and liie prir.oe her son, a youth of high spirit, 
when brought into the presence of his conqueror, having nobly dared 
to justify his enterprise to the face of his rival, was barbarously mur- 
dered by the dukes of Gloucester and Clarence. Henry V4. was 
soon after privately put to death in the Tower. The heroic Margart tj 
ransomed by Lewis XI., died in Fiance, 1,482. 

7. Edward IV., thus secured on the throne by the death ol' all his 
competitors, abandoned himself without reserve to the indulgence of 
a vicious and tyrannical nature lie put to death, on the most iVivo- 
lous pretence, his brother Clarence. Preparing togratily his subjects 
by a war with France, he died suddenly in the forty-second vear of 



J56 MODEliN HISTOliY. 

his age. poisoned, as «as suspected, by his brother Richard duke of 

(jl')U'-ester, 1,183. 

8. Edward led two sons, the elder, Edward V., a boy of thirterti 
years of age. Kichard duke of Gloucester, iianied protector in the 
minority of his nephew, hired, by means of Buckingham, a m-ob el 
the dregs of the populace to declare their wish lor his assumption 
of the crown. He yiekled, with afrecto.(l reluctance, to this voice of 
the nation, and was proclaimetl king by the tide ol" Kichard 111., l,ir!3. 
Edward \ ., after a reign of two monlhs, with his brother the duke 
of \ ork, were, by command of the usurper, smothered w hile asleep, 
ftnd privately t^iried in the 'i'ower. 

9. These atrocious crinics found an avenger in Henry earl of 
Richmond, tht^ suryivifig heir of the house of Lancaster, who, aided 
by Charles V'lU. of Erance, landed in England, and revived the spirits 
of a pjirty almost extinguvhed in the kingdom. He gave battle to 
Kichard in the field of E/Oswurth. and entirely defe;>t.ed the army of 
the usurper, who was slain while fighting with the most desperate 
rourage, August 22, 1,485. The crown which he wore hi the encrage- 
ment was immediately placed on the head of the conqueror. This 
ausj icious day put an end to the civil wars of York and Lancaster. 
Henry \ 11. united tlie rights of both families by his marriage with 
Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV. 

10. The reigii of Henry \ II. was of twenty-four years' duration; 
and under his wise and })oliiic government the kingdom recovered 
all the woun(!s which it had sustained in those unhappy contests, 
industry, good order, and perfect subordination, were the fruit of the 
ex-ellent laws passed in this reign ; though tlie temper of (he si ve 
re.'gn was despotic, and his avarice, in the latter part of his rcign, 
prompted to the most oppressive exactions. 

1 1. The government of Henry was disturbed by two very singular 
enterprises; Ihc attempt of Lambert .Simnel, the son of a baker, to 
counterfeit the person of the earl of Warwick, son of the duke ol 
Clarence; and the similar attempt of Ferkin \VarL>eck, son of a 
Flemish .lew, to counterfeit the duke ot Ycik, who had been smother- 
ed in the Tower by Kichard 111. Both impostors found considerable 
support, but were liiudly deleated. Simnel, after beinq crowned 
king of England and Ireland at Dublin, ended his days in a menial 
olhce of Henry's household. Perkiu supported his cause by iVrce 
of arms for five years, and was aided l)y a great proportion of the 
English nobility. "Overpowered at length he surrendered to Henry, 
who co.idemned him to perpetual imprisonment; but his ambition; 
spirit meditated a new insurrection, and he was put to death as a 
traitor. Henry VII. died in 1.509, in the tifty-ihird year of his age, 
and the twenty-fourth of his reign. 



SECTION XXXIL 

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE 
FOURTEEJNTH CENTURY TO THE END OF THE REIGN OF 
JAMES V 

L In no country of Europe had the feudal aristocracy attained to 
a greater height than ~Tn Scotland. The power of the greater 
bitrons, while it rendered them independent, and often the rivals 



MODERN iUSTOKY, 

of tbeir soveneign, was a perpetual source of turbulence and di? 
order in the kingdom. It was therefore a constant policy of thie 
Scottish kings to Tiumbie the nobles, and breiik their factious com- 
binations. Robert I. attempted to retrench the vast terriloiial pos- 
sessions of his barons, by requiring every landholder to produce the 
titles of his esiate; but was resolutely answered, thyft the sword was 
their charter of possession. 

"2.. On the death of Robert in 1,329, and daring the minority ol 
\\\i son David, Edward Baliol, the son of John formerly king o) 
Scotland, with the aid of Edward 111. of England, and of many of 
I'le factious barons, invaded the kingdom, and was crowned at Scout, 
while the young David was conveyed tor security to France. The 
m.^m dependence of Baliol on the English monarch deprived him of 
the affections of the people. Robert, the steward of Scotland, R;ui- 
(iolph, and Douglas, supported the Brucian interest, and, assisted by 
tSieFrencli, restored David to his throne. This prince was dosliued 
, to sustain many reverses of fortune ; for, in a subsequent invasion ol 
the English territory by the Scots, he was taken prisoner in the bat- 
tle of Durham, and conveyed to London. He remained eleven 
years in captivity, and witnessed a similar fate of a brother monarch, 
.lohn king of France, taken prisoner by the black prince in the battle 
of Poictiers. David vvas ransomed by his subjects, and restored to 
his kingdom in 1,357 ; and ended a turbulent reign in 1,370-1. Tise 
crown passed at his demise to his nephew Robert, the high steward 
of Scotland, in virtue of a destination made by Robert I. 

3. The reign of Robert IL, which was of twenty yeais' duration, 
was spent in a series of hostilities between the !5coLs and EnglisiV, 
productive of no material consequence to either kingdom. The 
weak and indolent disposition of his successor Robert III., who found 
himself unequal to the contest with iiis factious nobles, prompted 
him to resign the government to his brother, the duke of Albany. 
This ambitious man formed the design of usurping the throne by tile 
murder of his nephews, the sons of Kobert. The elder, Rothsay, a 
prince of high spirit, was imprisoned on pretence of treasonable de- 
signs, and starved to death. The younger, James, escaped a similar 
fate which was intended for him; but on his passage to France, 
whither he was sent for salety by his father, he vvas taken by an Eng- 
lish ship of war, and brought prisoner to London. The wealc Robert 
sunk under these inisfortun,\'^, and died, 1,1U5, after a reign of iifteen 
veal's. 

4. James 1., a prince of great natural endowmentSj profited by a 
captivity of eighteen years at the court of England, in adorning' his 
mind with every valuable accompUshment. At his return to his 
kingdom, which in his absence had been weakly governed by the 
regent Albany, and suffered under all the disorders ol' anarchy, he 
bent his whole attention to the improvement and civilization of his 
people, by the enactment of many excellent laws, enforced witli a 
resolute authority. The tactions of the nobles, their dangerous com- 
binations, and their domineering tyranny over their depi'ndents, the 
great sources of the people's miseries, were firmly restrained, and 
most severely punished. But these wholesome innovations, while 
they procured to James tha affections of the nation at large, excited 
the odium of the nobility, and gave birth to a con-spiracy, headed 
by the earl of Athole, the king s uncle, which terminated in the 
murder of this excellent prince, in the 4 Ith year of his age, A. D. 
1,437. 

() 



158 MODEHiN HISTORY. 

5. His son James II. inherited a considenible poition o( the talents 
of his fatiicr; and, in. the like purpose ot^ restraining the inordinate 
poiverofiiis nobles, pursued the same maxims of government, which 
an impetuous temper prompted him, in son^e instances, lo carry to 
tiac most blameable excess. The earl of Douglas, trusting to a pow- 
erful vassalage, had assumed an authority above the laws, and a state 
and splendour rival to those of his sovereign. He was seized, and 
beheatJed without accusation or trial. His successor imprudently 
running tlie same career, and boldly justifying, in a conferences^ his 
rebellious practices, was put to death by the king's own hand. Thus 
were the factions of the nobles quelled by a barbarous rigour of 
authority. To his people James was beneficent and humane, and 
Ids laws contributed materially to their civilization and prosperity. 
He was killed, in the 30th yeai of his age, by the bursting of a can- 
non, in besieging the castle of Roxburgh, A. D. 1,460. 

6. His son James 111., without the talents of his predecessors, 
aflected to tread in the same steps. To humble his nobles he be- 
stowed his confidence on mean favourites, an insult which the for- 
mer avenged by rebellion. His brothers Albany and Mar, aided 
l)y Edward IV. of England, attempted a revolution in the kingdom, 
vviiich was frustrated only by the death of Edward. In a second re- 
bellion the confederate nobles ibrced the prince of Rothsay, ekkst son 
of James, to appear in arms against iiis father. In an engagen.ent 
near Bannockburn the rebels were successful, and the king was tlain 
in the 35th near of his age, 1,488. 

7. James IV., a great and most accomplished prince, whose talents 
were equalled by his virtues, while his measures of government were 
dictated by a true spirit of patriotism, won by a well-placed conli- 
dence the affections of his nobility. In his marriage with Margaret, 
the daughter of Henry VII. of England, both sovereigns wisely 
sought a bond of amity between the kingdoms; but this purpose was 
frustrated in the succeeding reign of lIcMuy VIll. The high spirit of 
the rival monarchs was easily inllamed by trilling causes ot" otfence; 
and France, then at war with England, courted the aid of her an- 
cient ally. James invaded England with a powerful army, which he 
wished lo lead to immediate action; but the prudent delays of Surrey, 
I he English general, wasted and weakened his force. In the fatal 
battle ot" Elodden the Sv'Ots were defeated with prodigious slaughter. 
Tiie gallant James perished in the tight, and with him almost the 
whole of the Scotlisli nobles, A. D. 1,513. 

8. Under the long minority of his son James V., an infant at the 
time of his father's death, the kingdom was feebly ruled by his uncle 
Albany. The aristocracy began to resume its ancient spirit ot inde- 
pendence, Avhich was ill-brooked by a i)rince of a proud and un- 
controlat)le mind, who felt the keenest jealousj' of a high preroga- 
tive. With a systematic policy he employed the church to abtise the 
nobility, contcrring all the olHces of state on able ecclesiastics. The 
canlinal Beaton co-operated with great zeal in the designs of his 
master, and under him ruled the kingdom. 

9. Henry Mil., embroiled with the papacy, sought an alliance 
with the king of .Scots; but the ecclesiastical counselloi-s of the lat- 
ter defeated this benelicial purpose. A war was thus provoked, and 
James was reluctantly compelled to couit those nobles whom it had 
hitherto been his darling object to humiliate. They now determined 
on a disgraceful revenge. In an attack on the Scottish border the 
Kngliijh were repelled, and an opportunity offered to the Scots of 



MODEliN lllSTORV. 169 

cutting off their retreat. The king gave his orders to that end, but 
Ins barons obstinately refused to advance beyond the frontier. One 
measure more was wanting to drive tlieir sovereign to despair. In a 
subsequent engagement with the English 10,000 of the Sects deliber- 
ately surrendered themselves prisoners to 500 of the enemy. The 
high spirit of James sunk under his contending passions, and he died oj 
a broken heart in the 33d year of his age, A. P. 1,542, a few days 
alter the birth of a daughter, yet more unfortun.ite than her father, 
Jlary queen of Scots. 



SECTION XXXIII. 

OF THE ANCIENT CONSTITUTION OF THE SCOTTISH GOVERN- 
MENT. 

1. We have seen that it was a constant policy of the Scottish kings 
to abase the power of their nobles ; and that the struggle tor power 
was the source of nr.uch misery and bloodshed. But this policy w;is 
necessary, from the dangerous ambition and lav/less tyranny of those 
nobles, who frequently aimed at overturning the throne, and exercis- 
e<l the severest oppression on all their dependents. The interests, 
therefore, of the people, no less than the security of the prince, de- 
m inded the repression of this overweening and destructive power. 
The aristocracy was, however, preserved, no less by its own strength 
than by the concurrence of circumstances, and chiefly by the violent 
and unhappy fate of the sovereigns. I\leantinio, though the meas- 
ures which the kings pursued were not successful, yet their conse- 
quences were beneiicial. They restrained, if they did not destroy, 
the spirit of feudal oi)j)ression, and gave birth to order, wise law.s, 
and a more tranquil administration of government. 

2. The legislative power, though nominally resident in the parlia 
ment, was virtually in the king, who, by his influence, entirely con- 
troled its proceedings. The padiaiv.ent consisted of three estates, 
the nobles, the dignihcd clergy, and the less barons, who were the 
representatives of the towns and shires. The disposal of benefices, 
gave the crown the enure command of the ciiuichmen, who v.ero 
equal to the nobles in number; and at least a majority of the com- 
mons were the dependents of the sovereign. A committee, termed 
the lords of the articles, prepared o\ery measure that was to come 
before the parliamenr. By the mode of" its election this committee 
was in eflect nominated by "the king. It is to the credit of the Scot- 
tish princes, that there are few instances of their abusing an authority 
so exteuMve as that which they constitutionally enjoyed. 

3. The king had anciently the supreme juristliction in all causes, 
civil and criminal, which he generally exercised through the medium 
of Lis privy council ; but in 1,425 James 1. instituted the court of ses- 
sions, consisting of the chancellor and certain judges chosen from the 
tlnee estates. This court was new-modelled by James V., and its 
jurisdiction limited to civil causes, the cognizance of crimes being 
committed to the justiciary. The chancellor was the highest ofhcer 
of the crown, and president of the parliament. To the chamberlain 
belonged the care of the finances and the public police; to the high 
steward the charge of the king's household ; the con-stable regulated 
all matters of military arrangement; and the marshal was the king'g 
lieutenant, and master of the horse. 



160 MODERN HISTORY. 

4. The revenue of the sovereign consisted of his domain, which 
was extensive, of the feudal casualties and forfeitures, the profits ot 
the wardships of his vassals, the rents of vacant benefices, the pecu- 
niary fines for offences, and the aids or presents occasionally given 
by the subject ; a revenue at all times sufficient for the purposes of 
government, and the support of the dignity of the crown. 

5. The poliUcal principles which regulated the conduct of the Scots 
toward other nations were obvious and simple. It had ever been an 
object of ambition to England to acquire the sovereignty of Scotland, 
u hich was constantly on its guard against this design ol its more potent 
neighbour. It was the wisest policy for Scotland to attach itself to 
I' Vance, tbe natural enemy of England ; an alliance reciprocally court- 
ed from similar motives. In those days this attachment was justly 
deemed patriotic; while the Scots, who were the partisans of Eng- 
land, were with equal justice regarded as traitors to their country. 
In tiie period of ^vliich we now treat, it was a settlerl policy of the 
English sovereigns to have a secret faction in their pay in Scotland, 
for the purpose of dividing and thus enslaving the nation; and to (his 
source all tlie subsequent disorders of the latter kingdom are to be 
attributed. 



SECTION XXXIV. 

A VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF LITERATURE AND SCIENCE 
IN EUROPE, FROM THE REVIVAL OF LETTERS TO THE 
END OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 

1. The first restorers of learning in Europe were the Arabians, 
who, in the course of their Asiatic conquests, becoming acquainted 
with some of the ancient Greek authors, discovered and justly appre- 
ciated the knowledge and improvement to be derived from tnem. 
The caliphs procured from the eastern emperors copies of the an- 
cient manuscripts, and had them carefully translated into Arabic ; es- 
teeming principally those which treated "of mathematics, physics, and 
metaphysics. They disseminated their knowledge in the "course oi 
their conquests, and founded schools and colleges in all the countries 
which they subdued. 

2. The western kingdoms of Europe became first acquainted with 
(he learnmg of the ancients through the medium of those Arabian 
translations. Charlemagne caused Latin translations to be made from 
the Arabian, and founded, after the example of the cfdiphs, the uni- 
versities of Bononia, Pavia, Osnaburg, and Paris. Alfred wth a simi- 
lar spirit, and by similar means, introduced a taste for literature in 
Fjigland ; but the subsequent disorders of the kingdom replunged it 
into barbarism. The Normans, however, brought from the continent 
some tincture of ancient learning, which was kept alive in the monas- 
teries, where the monks were meritoriously employed in transcrib- 
mg a kw of the ancient authors, along with the legendary hves of 
the saints. 

3. In this dawn of literature in England appeared Henry of Hunting 
toi! and Geoffrey of Monmouth, names distinguished in the earliest 
annals of poetry and romance ; John of Salisbury, a moralist ; V\'il- 
Uam of Malmesbury, annalist of the history of England before the 
reign of Stephen ; Giraldus Cambrensis, knoAvn in the fields of histo- 



MODERN lilSTORl. 161 

ry, theology, and poetry; Joseph of Exeter, author of two Latin epic 
poems on the Trojan war, and the war of Antioch, or the crusade, 
which are read with pleasure even in the present day. 

4. But this era of a good taste in letters was of short duration. 
The taste for classical composition and historical information yielded 
to the barbarous subtleties of scholastic divinity taught by Lombard 
and Abelard, and to the abstruse doctrines of the Roman law, ^vhich 
began to engage the general attention from the recent discovery of 
the pandects at Amalpbi, 1,137. The amusements of the vulgar 
in those periods were metrical and prose romances, unintelligible 
prophecies, and fables of giants and enchanters. 

5. In the middle of the thirteenth century appeared a distinguish- 
jed genius, Roger Bacon, an English friar, whose comprehensive mind 
was tilled with all the stores of ancient learning ; who possessed a 
discriminating judgment to separate the precious ore from the dross, 
and a power of invention fitted to advance in every science which was 
the object of his study. He saw the insuflkicncy of the school phi- 
losophy, and first recommended the prosecution of knowledge by ex- 
periment and the observation of nature. He made discoveries of 
importance in astronomy, optics, chemistry, medicine, and mechanics. 
He reformed the kalemlar, discovered the construction of telescopic 
glasses forgotten after his liiae, and revived by (jr.lileo, and has left a 

?lain intimation of his knowledge of the com])osition of gun-powder, 
et this superior genius believed in the possibility of discovering an " 
elixir for the prolongation of hfe, in the transmutation of metals into 
gold, and injudicial astrology'. 

G. A general taste prevailed for poetical composition in the twelfth 
and thirteenth centuries. The troubadours of Provence wrote son- 
nets, madrigals, and satirical ballads ; and excelled in extempore dia- 
logues on the subject of love, which they treated in a metaphysical 
and Platonic strain. They contended lor the prize of poetry at sol- 
emn meetings, where princes, nobles, and the most illustrious ladies 
attended to decide between the rival bards ; and some of those prin- 
ces, as Richard 1. of England, Frederick L emperor of Germany, are 
celebrated as troubadours of eminence. Many fragments yet remain 
of their compositions. 

7. The transference of the papal seat to Avignon, in the fourteenth 
century, iamiliarized the Italian poets with the sGtij;s of the trouba- 
dours, and gave a tincture of the Provencal style to their compo- 
sitions, which is very observable in the poetry of Petrarch and oi 
Dante. The Divinn Comedia of Dante first introduced the machine- 
ry of angels and devils in the room of the pagan mythology, ard is a 
work containing many examples of the terrible sublime. 'J'hi; Sen- 
nets and Canzuni of Petrarch are highly tender and pathetic, though 
vitiated with a quaintness and conceit, which is a prevalent leatu.c 
of the ItaUan poetry. The Decaincronc of Boccacio, a Avork of the 
same age, is a master-piece for invention, ingenious narrative, and 
acquaintance with hun<an nature. These authors have fixed the 
standard of the Italian language. 

8. Contemporary with them, and of rival merit, was the English 
Chaucer, who displays all the talents of Bocc.xio, through the me- 
dium of excellent poetry. The works of Chaucer discover an exten- 
sive knowledge of the sciences, an acquaintance both with ancient 
and modern learning, particularly the literature of France and Italy, 
and, above all, a most acute discernment of life and mannere. 

9. Of similar character are the poems of Gower, but ol a graver 

2 21 



10€ MODERN HiS'lX)Ky. 

cast, and a more chastened morality. Equal to these eminent men 
in every specie? of literary merit was the accomplished James 1. of 
Scotland, of which his remaining writings bear convincing testimony. 
The doubtful Rowley of Bristol is said to have adorned the fifteenth 
century. 

10. Spain at this period began to emerge from ignorance and bar- 
barism, and to produce a few of those worKs which are enumerated 
with approbation in the whimsical but judicious criticism of Cervan- 
tes. (Don Quixote, b. l,c. 6.) 

11. Though poetry attained in Vhose ages a considerable degree 
of splendour, yet there was little advancement in general literature 
and science. History was disgraced by the intermixture of miracle 
imd fable; yet we rind much curious inibrm;ition in the writings 
of Matthew of \Ve!>tminster, oi Walsingham, Everard, Duysburg, and 
liie Cfironicles of Froissart and ]\Ionstrelet. Philip de Commines 
buppily describes the reigns of Lewis XI. and Charles V'lU. of 
I' lance. Villani and Platina are v iluable recorders of the aflairs of 
Italy. 

1 2. A taste for classical learning in the fifteenth century led to the 
discovery of many of the ancient authors. I'oggio discovered the 
xvritings of Quintilian and several of the compositions of Cicero, 
which stimulated to tarther research, and to the recovery of many 
valuable remains of Greek and Roman literature. But this taste was 
r.ot generally difiused. France and England were extremely barba- 
t\)us. The "library at Oxford contained only 600 volumes, and there 
\vere but four classics in the royal library at Paris. But a brighter 
period was approaching. On the fall of the eastern empire, in the 
end of the fifteenth century, the dispersion of the Greeks diffused a 
taste for polite literature over all the "west of Europe. A succession 
of popes, endowed with a hberal and enlightened spirit, gave every 
eaicouragement to learning and the sciences; and, above all, the 
ooble discovery of the art of p netting contiibuted to their rapid ad- 
Taiicement and dissemination, and gave a certain assurance of the 
perpetuation of every valuable art, and the progressive improvement 
of human knowledge. 

13. The rise of dramatic composition among the moderns is to be 
traced to the absurd and ludicrous representation, in the churches, 
of the scripture histories, called in England mysteries, miracles, and 
moralities. These were first exhibited in the twelfth century, and 
continued to the sixteenth, when they were prohibited by law in 
England. Of these we have amusing specimens in Warton's His- 
tory of English Poetry. Profane dramas were substituted in their 
place ; and a mixture of the sacred and profane appears to have 
been known in France as early as 1,300. hi Spain the farcical mys- 
teiies keep their ground to the present day, and no regular compo- 
sition for the stage was known till the end of the sixteenth century. 
The Italians are allowed by their^ own writers to have borrowed 
iheir theatre from the French and English. 

See Kelt's Elements of General Knowledge, vol. I. 



MODERN HkSTOKY. |6» 



SECTION XXXV. 

VIEW OF THE PR0GRP:SS OF COMMERCE IN EUROPE BEFOAfi 
THE PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES. 

1 . Before we give an account of the discoveries of the Portu- 
guese in the fifteenth century, in exploring a new route to India, we 
sliali present a siiort view of the progress of commerce in Europe 
down to tiiat period. 

The boldest naval enterprise of the ancients was the Periplus ot 
Hanno, who sailed from Carthage to the coast of Guinea, within 
four or five degrees of'the equator, A. C. 570. The ancients did 
not know that AtVica was almost circumnavigable. They had a very 
limited knowledge of the habitable earth. They believed that both 
the torrid and frigid zones were uninhabitable ;^ and they were very 
imperfectly acquamted with a great part of Europe, Asia, and Af- 
rica. Denmark, Sweden, Prussia, Poland, and the greater part ol 
Russia, were unlvuown to ihem. In Ptolemy's description of the 
globe, the 63d degree of latitude is the limit of the earth to the 
north, and the equator to the south. 

2. Britain was circumnavigated in the time of Domitian. The 
Romans frequented it lor the purposes of commerce ; and Tacitus 
mentions London as a celebrated resort of merchants. The com- 
merce of the ancients weis, however, chielly confined to the Mediter» 
ranean. In the nourishing periods of the eastern empire the mer- 
chandise of India was imported from Alexandria ; but, after the con- 
quest of Egypt by the Arabians, it was carried up the Indus, and 
thence by land to the Oxus. which then ran directly into the Caspian 
sea; tnence it was brought up the Wolga, and again carried overland 
to the Don, whence it descended into the Euxine. 

3. After the fall of the western empire commerce was long at a 
stand ill Europe. When Attila was ravaging Italy the Veneti took 
refuge in the small islands at the northern extremity of the Adriatic, 
and there founded Venice. A. D. 452, which began very early to 
equip small fleets, and trade to the coasts of Egypt and the Levant, 
for spices ;ind other merchandise of Arabia and India. Genoa, Flor- 
ence, and Pisa, imitated this example, and began to acquire consider- 
able wealth ; but Venice retained her superiority over these riva 
states, and gained considerable territory on the opposite coast of Illy r- 
icum and Dalmalia. 

4. The maritime cities of Italy profited by the crusades, in furnish- 
ing the armies with suppUes, and bringing home the produce of the 
east. The Italian merchants established manufactures similar to 
those of Constantinople. Rogero king of Sicily brought artisans 
from Athens, and established a siUc manufacture at Palermo in 1,130. 
The sugar cane was planted in Sicily in the twelfth century, and 
thence carried to Madeira, and finally made its way to the West 
Indies. 

5. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the Italians were the 
only commercial people of Europe. Venice set the first example 
of a national bank in 1,157, which has maintained its credit to the 
present times. The only trade of France, Spain, and Germany, at 
this time, was carried on at stated fairs and markets, to which traders 
resorted from all quarters, paying a tax to the sovereigns or the iordi 



IM MODERN HISTORY. 

of the territory. The more enterprising bought a privilege ot ex- 
emption, by paying at once a large sum, and were thence called fret 
troAers. 

6. in the middle ages the Italian merchants, usually called Lom- 
bards, were the tactors of all the European nations, and were en- 
ticed, by privileges granted by the sovereigns, to settle in France, 
Spain, (xermany, and England. They were not only traders in com 
modities, but bankers, or money dealei-s. In this last business they 
found a severe restraint irom the canon law prohibiting the taking 
of int-erest; and hence, from the necessaiy privacy of their bargains, 
there were no bounds to exorbitant usury. The Jews, too, who 
were the chief dealers in money, brought disrepute on the Inidp of 
banking, and frequently sulfered, on that account, the most intoler- 
able persecution and confiscation of their fortunes. To guard agauist 
these injuries they invented bills of exchange. 

7. The Lombard merchants excited a spirit of commerce, and 
gave birth to manufactures, which were generally encouraged by 
tlie sovereigns in the different kingdoms of Europe. Among the 
chief encouragements was the institution of corporations or monop- 
olies, the earliest of which are traced up to the eleventh century ; 
a policy beneficial, and perhaps necessary, where the spirit ol" indus- 
try is low, and manufactures are in their infancy ; but of hurtful con- 
sequence where trade and manufactures are flourishing. 

8. Commerce began to spread toward the north of Europe about 
tlie end of the twehth century. The sea-ports on the Baltic traded 
with France and Britain, and with the IMediterrancan by the sUtple 
of the isle of Oleron, near the mouth of the Garonne, then possessed 
by the English. The commercial laws of Oleron and Wisbuy (on 
the Baltic) regulated for many ages the tra<le of Europe. To pro- 
tect their trade from pin>cy, Lubec, Hamburgh, and most of the north- 
ern sea-ports, joined in a confederacy, under certain general legula- 
tions, termed the league of the hanse-toii:ns ; a union so beneficial in 
its nature, and so formidable in point of strength, that its alliance was 
courted by the predominant powers of Europe. 

9. For the trade of the hanse-towns with the southern kingdoms, 
Bruges, on the coast of Flanders, was found a convenient enuepot, 
and thither the Mediterranean merchants brouglit the commodilies 
of India and the Levant to exchange with the produce ar.J manufac- 
tures of the north. The Flemings now l)egan to encourage trade 
and manufactures, which thence spread to the Brabanters : but theii 
growth being checked by the impolitic sovereigns of those prov- 
inces, they found a more favourable field in England, which was des- 
tined to derive frem tlicm the great source of its national opulence. 

10. The Britons had very early seen the importance of commerce. 
Bede relates that London was frequented by foreigners for the pur- 
pose of trade in 614; and William of Malmesbury speaks of it, ia 
1,041, iis a most populous and wealthy city. The cinque ports. 
Dover, Hastings, Hythe, Romney, and Sandwich, obtained in that age 
their privileges and immunities, on condition of I'urnishing each five 
ships of war. These ports are now eight in number, and send their 
members to parliament. 

11. The woollen manufacture of England was considerable in the 
twelfth century. Henry II. incorporated the weavers of London, 
and gave them various privileges. By a law passed in his reign, all 
cloth made of foreign wool was condemned to be burnt. Scotland 
at this time seems to have possessed a considerable source of wealth. 



MOUERN HIS'i^OKY. ,65 

as is evident Jrom the payment of the ransom of William the Hon, 
which was 10,000 merks, equal to 100,0001. sterling of present 
money. The English found it difficult to raise double that sum for the 
ransom of Richard I., and the Scots contributed a proportion of it. 
The English sovereigns at first drew a considerable revenue from 
the custom on wool exported to be manufactured abroad; but becom- 
ing soon sensible of the benefit of encouraging its home manutacture^ 
they invited, for that purpose, the foreign artisans and merchants to 
reside in England, and gave them valuable immunities. Edward III. 
was peculiarly attentive to trade and manufactures, as appears by the 
laws passed iti his reign ; and lie was bountiful in the encouragement 
of foreign artisans. The succeeding reigns were not so favourable. 
During the civil whts of York and Lancaster the spirit of trade and 
manufactures greatly declined ; nor did Ihey begin to revive and 
flourish till the accession of Henry VII. In that interval of their de- 
cay in England commerce and the arts were encouraged in Scotland 
by James 1. and his successors, as much as the comparatively rude 
and turbulent state of the kingdom would permit. The herring fish- 
ery then began to be vigorously promoted; and the duties laid on 
(he exportation of woollen cloth show that this manufacture was then 
considerable among the Scots. Glasgow began to acquire wealth 
by the fisheries in 1,120, but had little or no Ibreign trade till aftfir 
the discovery of America and the vVcst Indies. 

12. Henry VII. gave the most liijeral encouragement to trade and 
manufactures, particularly the woollen, by inviting foreign artisans, 
and establishing them at Leeds, Wakefield, Halifax, and other places. 
The navigation acts were passed in his reign, and commercial treaties 
fonned with the continental kingdoms lor the protection of the 
merchant-shipping. Such was the state of commerce at the time 
when the Portuguese made those great discoveries which open- 
ed a new route to India^ and gave a circulation to their wealth over 
mqst of the nations of Europe. 



SECTION XXXVl. 

DISCOVERIES OF THE PORTUGUESE IN THE FIFTEENTH 
CENTURY, AND THEIR EFFECTS ON THE COMMERCE OF 
EUROPE. 

1. The pplarity of the magnet had been known in Europe aa 
early as the thirteenth century ;' but the compass was not used in 
sailing till the middle of the fourteenth; and another century Iwd 
eLipsed from that period, while yet the European mariners scarcely 
ventured out of the sight of their coasts. The eastern ocean was 
little known ; and the Atlantic w;is supposed to be a boundless ex- 
panse of sea, extending probably to the eastern shores of Asia. In 
the belief that the torrid zone was uninhabitable, a promontory on 
the African coast, in the 29th degree of north latitude, was termed 
Cape Non, as forming an impassable limit. 

2. In the beginning of the rifleenth century John king of PoF' 
tugal sent a tew vessels to explore the African coast; and these 
doubling Cape Non proceeded to Cape Boyador, within two de- 
grees of the nortliern tropic. Prince Henry, the son of John, equip- 
ped a single ship, which, being driven out to sea, landed on the maud 



MODERN HISTORY. 



of Porto Santo. This involuntary experiment emboldened the 
mariners to abandon their timid mode of coasting, and launch into the 
open sea. In 1,420 the Portuguese tliscovered Aladeira, where they 
established a colony, and planted the Cyprus vine, and the sugar cane. 

3. The spirit of enterpiise being thus awakened, prince Henry 
obtained from liugene IV. a bull granting to the Portuguese the 
property of all the countries which they might discover between 
Cape JNon and India. Under John II. oi' Portugal the Cape Verd 
islands were discovered and colonized: and the lieets, advancing to 
the coast of Guinea, brought home gold dust, gums, and ivory. Hav- 
ing passed the equator, the Portuguese entered a new hemisphere, 
and boldly proceeded to the extremity of the continent. In 1,479 a 
fleet under Vasco de Gama doubled the Cajie of Good', Hope, and, 
sailing onwai'ds beyond the mouths otthe Arabian and Pei-sian gulfs, 
arrivetf at Calicut, on the Malabar coast, after a voyage of 1,500 
leagues, pertbrmed in thirteen months. 

4. De Gama entered hito an alliance with the rajah of Calicut, a 
tributary of the Mogul empire, and retunied to Lisbon with speci- 
mens of the wealth and produce of the country^ A succeeding licet 
formed settlements, and, vanquishing the opposition of the native 

?rinces, soon achieved the conquest of all the coast of Malabar. 
"■he city of Goa, taken by storm, becavne the residence of a Portu- 
guese viceroy and the capital of their Indian settlements. 

5. The Venetians, who had hitherto c'ngrossed the Indian trade 
by Alexandria, now lost it for ever. After an iuc'lfectual project of 
cutting through the isthmus of Suez, they attempted to intercept the 
Portuguese by their fleets stationed at the mouth of the Red sea and 
Persian gult, but were every where encountered by a superior 
force. The Portuguese maJe selilenients in both the gulfs, ano 
vig jrously prosecuted their conquest-; on the Indian coast and sea. 
The rich island of Ceylon, the kingdoms of Pegu, Siam^ and Malac- 
ca, were speedily subdued, and a settlement establisheu in Jjcngal. 
They proceeded onward to China, hitherto scarcely known to the Eu- 
ropeans but by the account of a single Venetian traveller, Marco Paolo, 
in the thirteenth century ; and they obtained the emperor's permis 
sion to form a settlement at Macao, thus opening a commerce w ith 
that immense empire, and the neighbouring islands of Japan. In the 
si>ace of fit'ty yeai's Mie Portuguese were masters of the whole trade 
of the Indian " ocean, and sovereigns of a large extent of Asiatic 
territory. 

G. These discoveries produced ;i wonderful effect on the com- 
merce of Europe. The produce of the spice islands was computed 
to be worth annually 200,000 ducats to Lisbon, The Venetians, 
after «;very effort to destroy the trade of the Portuguese, offered to 
become sole purchasers of all the spice brought to Lurope, but were 
refused. Conmiercial industry was roused in every quarter, and 
manufactures made a rapid progress. Lyons, Tours, Abbeville, Mar- 
seilles, Bordeaux, acquired immense wealth. Antwerp and Amster- 
dam became the great marts of the north. The former owed its 
splendoui- to the decline of Bruges, which was ruined by civil com- 
motions; and the Portuguese made Antwerp their entrepot for the 
8ui>ply of the I'.orthern kingdoms. It continued highly flourishing 
till the revolt ol the Netherlands, in the end of the sixteenth century, 
when it was taken by the Spaniards, and its port destroyed by block- 
ing up the Scheld. 
7. The trade of Holland rose on the fall of Antwerp. Amsterdam 



MODERN HISTORY. 167 

became considerable after the decline of the hanseatic confederacy 
in 1,428, but rose into splendour and high commorchil opulence from 
the destruction of Antwerp. The United Provinces, dependent on 
industry alone for their support, became a model of commercial ac- 
tivity to all nations. 

8. Britain felt the effect of that general stimulus which the Por- 
tuguese discoveries gave to the trade of Europe ; but other causes 
had a more sensible operation to that end in England. The refbrmii- 
tion. by suppressing the convents, and restoring many thousands tc 
society, ami the cutting off the papal exactions, which drained the 
kingdom of its wealth, the politic laws passed in the reign of Henry 
VllL, and the active patriotism of Elizabeth, were vigorous incentives 
to national industry. 

9. From the time of Henry Vlll. to the present, the commerce 
and manufactures of England have been uniformly progressive. 
The rental of England in lands and houses did not then exceed five 
millions per annum ; it is now above eighteen millions. The unman- 
ufactured wool of one year's growth is supposed to be worth two 
millions; when manufactured, as it now is, by British hands, it is 
worth eight millions. Above a million and a half of hands are em- 
ployed in that manuf;>cture alone ; half a million are employed in 
the manufactures of iron, steel, copper, brass, lead ; the linen man- 
ufactures of England, Scotland, and Ireland, occupy nearly a n)illion; 
and a number not much inferior is employed in the fisheries. It is 
presumable, on the whole, that nearly a fourth of the population oi the 
united kingdoms is actually employed in commerce and manufactures. 

10. The vast increase of the national wealth of Britain appears 
chietly, 1, from tiie increase of population, which is supposed io 
be nearly five to one (at least in the large cities) since the reign 
of Elizabeth ; 2, from the great addition made to the cultivated 
lands of the kingdom, and the high improvement of agriculture 
since that period, whence more than quiuiiuple the quantity of food 
is produced ; 3, from the increase of the commercial shipping, at 
least sixfold within the same time ; 4, from the comparative low rate 
of interest, which is demonstrative of the increase of wealth. The 
consequences of the diffusion of the connnercial spirit are most im- 
portant to the national well'are. From general industry arises afflu- 
ence, joined to a spirit of independence ; and on this spirit rests the 
lr»iedom of the British constitution, and all the blessings which are 
enjoyed under its protection. 



SECTION XXXVII. 

GERMANY AND FRANCE IN THE REIGNS OF CHARLES V. 
AND FRANCIS I. 

1. Wk resume the detail of the history of Europe at the beginning 
of the sixteenth century, previously remarking, that the Germanic 
empire continued for above tiftv years in a stale of languid tranquilli- 
ty, from the time of Albert II., the successor of Sigismund, during the 
long reign of Frederick III., whose son Maximilian acqnired, by hia 
marriage with Mary, duchess of Burgundy, the sovereignty of the 
Netherlands. Maximilian was elected Emperor in 1,493; and, by 
establishing a perpetual peace between the separate Germanic stateSi 
laid the foundation of the subsequent grandeur of the empire. 



168 MODERN HISTORY. 

2. Philip archduke of Austria, son of Maximilian, man ied Jane, the 
daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella ; and of that marriage the eldest 
son was Charles V., who succeeded to tlie throne of Spain in 1,516, 
and, on the death of his grandfather Maximilian, preferred his claim 
to the vacant imperial throne. He had for his competitor Francis I. 
of France, who had distinguished himself by the conquest of the Mil- 
anese» and the adjustment of the conteniiing interests of the Italian 
states. The German electors, afraid of the exorbitant power both oi 
Charles and of Francis, would have rejected both, and conferred the 
imperial crown on Frederick duke of Saxony ; but this extraordinary 
man declined the proffered dignity, and his council determined the 
election in favour of Charles ofAustria, 1,519. 

3. Charles V^. and Francis I. were now declared enemies, and their 
mutual claims on each other's dominions were the subject of perpet- 
ual hostility. The emperor claimed Artois as part of the Nether- 
lands. Francis prepared to make good his right to the Two Sicilies. 
Charles had to defend Milan, and to support his title to Navarre, 
which had beon wrested from France by his grandfather Fenlinand. 
Henry VIII. of England was courted by the rival monarchs, as the 
weight of England was sufficient to turn the scale, where the power 
of each was nearly balanced. 

4. The tirst hostile attack was made by Francis on the kingdom of 
Navarre, which he won and lost in the course of a few months. The 
emperor attacked Picardy, and his troops at the same time drove tlie 
French out of the Milanese. On the death of Leo X., Charles placed 
cardinal Adrian on the papal throne, 1,521 ; and l)y the promise of 
elevating Wolsey, the minister of Henry Vlll., to that dignity, on the 
death of Adrian, gained the alliance of the English monarch in his war 
against France. 

5. At this critical time Francis imprudently quarrelled with Ihs 
best general, the constable of Bourbon, who, in revenge, deserted 
the emperor, and was by him invested with the chief command of his 
armies. The imperial generals were far superior inabilities to their 
opponents. The French were defeated at Biagrassa, and Charles 
was carrying every thing before him in Italy, when Francis entered 
the Milanese, and retook the capital ; but, in the subsequent battle of 
Pavia, his troops were entirely defeated, and the French monarch 
became the constable of Bourbon's prisoner, 1,525. 

6. Tb? emperor made no ad'vantage of. his good fortune. By the 
treaty of Madrid, Francis regained his liberty, on yielding to Charles 
the duchy of Burgundy, and the superiority of Flanders and Artois. 
He gave his two sons as hostages for the fidhlment of these conditions; 
but the stales refused to ratify them, and the tailure was compromised 
for a sum of money. 

7. On the renewal of the war, Henry N HI- took part with France, 
and Charles lost an opportunity of obtaining the sovereignty of Italy. 
The papal army in the French interest was defeated by the consta- 
ble of Bourbon, and the pope himself made prisoner; but Bourbon 
was killed in the siege of Rome, and Charles allowed the pope to 
purchase his release. 

8. After the conclusion of the peace of Cambray, 1,529, Charles 
visited Italy, and received the imperial diadem from pope Clement 
VII. The Turks having invaded Hungary, the emperor maiched 
against them in person, and compelled the sultan Solyman, with an 
army of 300,000 men, to evacuate the country. He soon alter em- 
barked for Africa, to replace the dethroned Muley Hassan in the 



' MODERJN HlS'l'ORY. im 

Wvcreignty of Tunis and Algiers, which had been usurped by Hay- 
radin Barbarossa ; and he achieved the enterprise with honour. His 
reputation at this period exceeded that of all the sovereigns of Eu- 
rope, for political ability, real power, and the extent and opulence of 
his dominions. 

9. Francis was glad to ally himself even with the Turks to cop* 
with the imperialists, and Barbarossa invaded Italy; but the troops of 
Charles prevented the co-operation of the French^ and separately 
defeated and dispersed the allied powers, while anotner army of tho 
imperialists ravaged Champagne and Picardy. 

10. In the interval of a truce, which was concluded at Nice, for 
ten yeai-s between the rival monarchs, Charles passed through 
France to the Netherlands, and was entertained by Francis with the 
most magnificent hospitality. He had promised to grant to the French 
king his favourite desire, tlie investiture of Milan ; but failing to keep 
his word, the war was renewed with double animosity. The French 
and Turkish fleet's attacked Nice, but were dispersed by the Ge- 
noese admiral, Andrea Doria. In Italy the French were victori- 
ous in the battle of Cerizoles, but drew no benefit from this partial 
advantage. The imperialists, on the whole, had a decided superior- 
ity, and France must have been undone, if the disorders of Germany, 
from the contending hiterests of the catholics and protestants, had 
not forced the emperor to conclude the treaty of Crepi with Francis, 
lj544. At the same time Francis purchased a peace with Henry 
VIll., who had again taken part with his rival. Francis died soon 
after, in 1,547 ; a prince of great spirit and abilities, and of a gener- 
ous and noble mind, unfortunate only from the necessity of strug- 
gling against a power which overmatched him both in policy aM 
iii resources. 

1 1. A short time before this period, was founded the order of the 
Jesuits by Ignatius Loyola, 1,535. The principle of the order was 
implicit obedience and submission to the pope. The brethren were 
not confined to their cloisters, hut allowed to mix with the world ; 
and thus, by gaining the confidence of princes and statesmen, they 
were enabled to direct the policy of nations to the great end of estab- 
lishing the supreme authority of the holy see. The wealth which 
they accumulated, the extent of their power, and the supposed con- 
sequences of their intrigues to the peace of nations, excited at length 
a general hostility to their order ; and the institution has recently 
been abolished in all the kingdoms of Europe. 

12. If Charles V. aimed at universal empire, he was ever at a dis- 
tance from the object of his wishes. The formidable confederacy of 
the protestants to preserve their liberties and their religion, gave 
him perpetual disquiet in Germany. He never could form his do- 
minions into a well connected hotly, from the separate national inter- 
ests of the Spaniards, Flemish, and Germans; and even the imperial 
slates were divided by their jealousies, political and religious. The 
hostiliiies of foreign powers gave him continual annoyance. He found 
in Henry II., the successor of Francis, an antagonist as formidable as 
his fither. His cares and difliculties increased as he advanced in life, 
and at length entirely broke the vigour of his mind. In a state of 
melancholy despondency he retired from the world at the age of tifty- 
six, resigning first the kingdom of Spain to his son Philip II., 1,536, 
and afterwards the imperial crown in favour of his brother Ferilkiaud, 
who was elected emperor on the 24th day of February, 1,558. 



170 MODEllN HISTORY. 



SECTION XXXVIII. 

OBSERVATIONS ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE GERMAN 
EMPIRE. 

i. PiiEvioisi.Y to the reign of i\I:iximilian I., tlie Germarwc empire 
\va* suhjecl to all the di-^orders of the feudal governments. The 
general diets of the state were tumultuous and indecisive, and their 
cou>>tant wai-s with one another kept the whole in anarchy and bar- 
b.u'ism. VVenceslaus, in 1,383, endeavoured to renieiiy those eyils 
by the enactment of a general peace ; hut no effectual measures 
were taken for securing it. Albert II. aUemptcd to accomplish 
the same end, and had some success. He divided Germany into six 
circles, each regulated by its own diet; but the jealousies of the states 
prompted tiieni constantly to hostilities, which there was no superior 
power suthcient to restrain. 

2. At length Maximilian I. procured, in 1,500, that solemn enact- 
ment which established a perpetual peace among the Germanic 
states, under the cogent penalty of the aggressor being treated as a 
common enemy. He established the imperial chamber lor the settle- 
ment of all differences. 1'he empire was divided anew into ten cir- 
cles, each circle sending its representatives to the imperial chamber, 
anil bound to enforce the public laws through its own territory. A 
regency was appointed to subsist in the intervals of the diet, composed 
of twenty me;;^bers, over whom the emperor presided, 

3 These regulations, however wise, would probably have failed 
4>i tVieir end, if the inlluence of the house ol' Austria, which has for 
three centuries continued to occupy the imperial throne, had not 
entorced obedience to them. The ambition and policy of Charles 
V. would have bo^n dangerous to the freedom ol' the German prin- 
f-es, if the new system of preserving a bahmce of power in Europe 
had not made iriese princes find allies and protectors suflicient to 
travei'se the empeiors schemes of absolute dominion. He attained, 
however, an authority far beyond that of any of his pi'edecessors. 
The succeeding emperors imitated his policy ; but, as they did not 
possess equal talents, they found yet stronger obstacles to their en- 
croachments on t'lie freedom of the slates. 

4. The Germanic hberties were settled for the last time by the 
treaty of Westphalia, in 1,G48, which fixed the emperor's preroga- 
uvesj and the privileges of the states. The constitution of the em- 
]>ire ii not framed lor the ordin;u-y ends of government, the prosper- 
ity and happiness of the people. It regards not the rights of the 
subjects, hut only the independence of the several princes; audits 
sole object is to maintain each in the enjoyment of his sovereignty, 
and pi event usurpations and encroachments on one another's terri- 
tories. It has no relation to ths particular government of the states, 
each of which has its own laws and constitution, some more free, and 
others more despotic. 

5. The general diet has the power of enacting the public laws of 
the empire. It consists of three colleges, the electors, the princes, 
and the free cities. All such public laws, and all general measures, 
are the subject of the separate deliberation of the electoral college 
Olid that of the princes. When jointly approved by them, the resoKj- 



MODERN HISTORY. Ill 

tion is camassed by the college of the free cities, and, if agreed to, 
becomes a plficifmn of the empire. Ifappioved finally by thfe em- 
peror, it is a cnnclusiun, or general law. If disapproved, Ihe re!>olu- 
tion is of no eflect. iMoreover, the emperor must be the proposer of 
all general laws. Still farther, no complaint or request can be made 
by any of the princes to the diet ^vithout the approbation of the 
elector archbishop of Mentz, who may refuse it at his pleasure. 
These <;onstitutional detects are the more hurtful in their conse- 
quences, from the separate and often contending interests of the prin- 
ces, who have all the rights of sovereignty, the power of contracting 
ibreign alliances, and are frequently possessed of foreign dominions 
of far greater value than their imperial territories. 

6. The Germanic constitution has, however, in some respects, its 
advantages. The particular diets of each circle tend to unite those 
princes in all matters of national concern, whatever may be the dis- 
cordance of their individual interests. The regulations made in 
those diets compensate the want of a general legislative power. Be- 
side the circular diets, the electors, the princes, the free cities, the 
catholics, and the protestants, hold their particular diets, when theii 
common interests require it; and these powers balance one another. 
Considered, therefore, solely in the light of a league of several inde- 

S2ndent princes and states, associating for their common benefit, the 
ermanic constitution has many advantages; in promoting general 
harmony, securing the rights of its members, and preventing the 
weak from being oppressed by the strong. 



SPXTION XXXIX. 

OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND, 
AND THE REVOLUTION IN DENMARK AND SWEDEN. 

1. The age of Charles V. is the era of the reformation of reli- 
gion, of the discovery of the new world, and of the highest splen- 
dour of the fine arts in Italy and the south of Europe, We shall 
treat in order of each of these great objects ; and, first/of the refor- 
mation. 

The voluptuous taste and the splendid projects of pope Leo X. 
demanding large supplies of money, ho instituted through ;dl fhe 
christian kingdoms a sale of indulgences, or remittances from the 
pains of purgatory. This tralfic being abused to the most shocking 
purposes, Martin Luther, an Augustine friar, V^entured to preach 
against it, and to inveigh with acrimony against the pouer which 
authorized it. He Ibund many willing hearers, particularly in the 
electorate of Saxony, of which the prince Frederick was his friend 
and protector. Leo X.i condemned his tenets by a papal bull, which 
only increased the zeal and indignation of the preacher. In a book 
which he pul)lished, entitled the Babylonish Captivity^ he applied 
all the scriptural attributes of the whore of Habylon to the papal 
hierarchy, and attacked with equal force and virulencq the doctrines 
of transubstantiation, purijatory, the celi'bacy of the priests, and the 
refusal of wine to the people in the communion. The book being 
condemned to the flames, Luther burned the pope's bull and the 
decretals at Wittemberg, 1,520. 

2. One of the first cliampions, who took up the pen against L«- 



I7S MODERN HISTORY. 

ther, was Henry VIII. of England ; whose book, presented to pope 
Leo, procured him the title now annexed to his crown, of defender of 
the faith. The rest of Europe seemed to pay httle attention to 
these rising controversies. Charles V., studious of the friendship oi 
the pope, took part against Luther, and symmoned him to answer 
for his doctrines in the diet of Worms. The refornrver detended 
himself with great spiiit, and, aided by his friend the elector, made 
u safe escape into Saxony, where the mass was now universally 
aoolished, the images destroyed, and the convents shut up. The 
friars and nuns returned to the world, and Luther took a nun tor his 
wife. Nor did these secularized priests abuse their new freedom, 
for their manners were decent, and their life exemplary. 

3. Erasmus has justly censured the impolicy of the catholic clergy 
in their modes of resisting and suppressing the new doctrines. They 
allowed them to be discussed in sermons before the people, and em- 
ployed for that purpose furious and bigoted declaimers, who only 
increased and widened differences. They would not yield in the 
most insigniticant trilie, nor acknowledge a single fault ; and they 
persecuted with the utmost cruelty all whose opinions were not 
agreeable to their own standard of faith. How wise is the counsel o 
lord Bacon ! " There is no better way to stop the rise of new sectb 
and schisms, than to reform abuses, compound the lesser differences, 
proceed mildly from the lirst, refrain from sanguinary persecutions, 
and rather to soften and win the prrncipal leaders, by gracing and 
advancing them, than to enrage them by violeiKe and bitterness." 
Bac. Mor. Ess. Sect. I. Ess. 12. 

4. Switzerland Ibllovved in the path of reformation. ' Zuinglius of 
Zurich preached the new tenets with such zeal and effect, that the 
whole canton was converted, and the senate piiblicly abolished the 
mass, and puritied the churches. Berne took the same measure? 
with greater solemnity, after a discussion in the senate which lasL-ed 
two months. Basle imitated the same example. Other cantons 
armed in defence of their faith; and in a desperate engagemert, ia 
which the protestants were defeated, Zuinglius was slain, 1,53L 

5. Lutheranism was now making its progress towards the north 
of Europe. Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, were atthis time gov- 
erned by Christiern 11., the Nero of the north. The Swedes, re- 
luctantly submitting to the yoke, were kept in awe by Troll, arch- 
bishop of Upsal, a laithfiil minister of the tyrant in all his schemes 
of oppression and cruelty. On intelligence of a revolt, the king 
and his primate, armed with a bull trom pope Leo X., massacred 
the whole body of the nobles and senators, amidst the festivity of a 
Danquet. Gustavus Vasa, grand wephew of Charles Canutson- 
formerly king of Sweden, escaped from this carnage, and concealed 
himself in the mines of Dalecarha. By degrees assembling a small 
army, he defeated the generals of Christiecn, whose cruelties at 
length determined the united nations to vindicate their rights, by a 
solemn sentence of deposition. The tyrant fled to Flanders, and 
Frederick duke of Holstein was elected sovereign of the three 
kingdoms ; but Sweden, adhering to her heroic deliverer, and the 
heir of her ancient kings, acknowledged alone the sovereignty of 
Gustavus Vasa, 1,521. The bull of Leo X., and its bloody conse- 
quences^ were suflicient to convert Sweden and Denmark to the 
tenets ot the reformed religion. Gustavus enjoyed his sceptre many 
years in peace, and contributed greatly to the happiness and proi- 
l>erity of his kingdom. 



MODEiixN lil6TOi;i. ' 173 

6. As eurlj as 1,525^ Ihe states of Saxony, Brunswick, Hease Cas- 
s(il, and the cities ot btrasburgli and Frankfort, liad embraced the 
doctrines of the reformation. Luther had now a species of spiritual 
control, which he exercised by means of a synod of six reformers. 
His successful example gave rise to reformers of different kinds, 
whose doctrines vv^ere less consonant to reason or good policy. Two 
fanatics of Saxony, Storck and Muncer, condemned infant baptism, 
and therefore were termed anabaptists. They preached universal 
equality and iVeeJom of religious opinion, but, with singular inconsis- 
tency, attempted to propagate their Joctrines by the sword. They 
were defeated at Mulhausen, and Muncer died on a scaffold ; but the 
party seemed to acquire new courage. They surprised iMunster, 
expelled the bishop, and anointed lor their king a tailor named Jack 
of Leyden, who defended the city with the most desperate courage, 
but fell at length, nith his party under the superior force of regular 
troops. The anabaptists, thus sanguinary in their original tenets 
and practices, have long ago become peaceable and harmless sub- 
jects. 

7. The united power of the pope and emperor found it impossi- 
ble to check the progress of the reformation. The diet of Spires 
proposed articles of accommodation between the Lutherans and 
catholics. Fourteen cities of Germany, and several of the electors, 
protested formally against those articles;, and hence the Lutheraa 
party acquired the name of proicsianls. They presented to the 
assembly at Augsburg a confession of their faith, which is the stand- 
ard of the protestant doctrines. 

8. The virtuous lives and conduct of the pi-otestant leaders, com- 
pared with those of the higher clergy among the catholics, fonued 
a contrast very favourable to the progi'css of the reformation. The 
solemn manner in which Uie states of S^vitze^land, and particularly 
Gen.ova, had proceeded, in calmly discussing every point of contro- 
versy, a:<d yielding only to tiie force of rational conviction, attracted 
the respect of all Europe. John Calvin, a Frenchman, ^Lecoming a 
zealous convert to the new doctrines, was the iirst who gave, them a 
systematic form by his Institutions^ and enforced their authority by 
the establishment of synods, consistories, and deacons. The magis- 
tracy of Geneva gave these ordinances the authority of law ; and 
they Avere adopted by six of the Swiss cantons, bv the protestants ol 
France, and tlie presbyteriar.s of Scotland and England. The ablest 
advocates of Calvin will llnd it diOicnilt to vindicate him from the 
charge oi intolerance and the spirit of persecution ; brat these, which 
are vices or delects of the indiviilual, attach not in the least to the 
doctrines ol the reformation, which are subject to the test of reason, 
and can derive no blemish or dishonour from the men who propagat- 
ed them, or even from the motives which might influence some of 
their earliest supporters. This observation applies more particulai ly 
to the subject ot the ensuing section. 

See Kett's Elements ot General Knowledge, Vol. L 



174 MOOBKN HISTORV. 



SECTION XL. 
OF THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND UNDER H£NRV VHI., 

L VVicKi-iFF, in the mi(^d!e of the fourteenth century, by an at- 
tack on tlie doctrines of transuhstaritiation, indulgences, and auricular 
confession, and still more by a translation of the scriptures into the 
vernacular tongue, had prepared the minds of the people of EngLind 
for a revolution in religious opinions; but his arofessed followers 
were not numerous. Tlif^ intemperate passions of Henry Vlli. were 
the immediale cause of the retbnnation in England. He had been 
married eighteen years to Catharine of Sixiin, aunt of Charles V., 
by \yhom he had three children, one of them, Mary, afterwards queen 
ot England; when, falling in love with Anna Bullen, he solicited 
Clement Vil. for a divorce from Catharine, on the score of iier for- 
mer marriage to his elder t)rother Arthur. The pope found himself 
in the painful dilemma of either affronting the emperor, or mortally 
offending the king of England. In hope that the king's passion 
might cool, he protracted (he time by preliminaries and negotiations, 
but to no purpose. Henry was resolutely bent on accomplishing 
his wishes. The Sorboniie and other French universities gave an 
opinion in his favour. Armed with this sanction, he caused Cranmer 
archbishop of Canterliury to annul his marriage. The repudiated 
queen gave place to Anna Bullen. On this occasion Wolsey, the 
mujister of Henry, lost the favour of his master, by opposing, as 
was believed, his darling measure, 

2. Clement VIL, from this specimen of the wayward temper of 
Henry, resolved to keep well with the emperor, and issued liis bull, 
condemnatory of the sentence of the archbishop of Canterbury. 
Henry immediately proclaimed himself head of the church of Eng- 
land ; the parliament ratified his title, and the pope's authority was 
instantly suppressed in all his dominions, 1,534. He proceeded to 
abolish the monasteries, and confiscate their treasures and revenues, 
electing out of the latter six new bishoprics and a college. The 
immoralities of the monks were sedulously exposed, the forgery of 
relics, false miracles, &,c. held up to the popular scorn. 

3. Yet Henry, though a reibrmer, and pope in his own kingdom, 
had not renounced the religion of Rome: he was equallj; an enemy 
to the tenets of Luther and Calvin as to the pope's jurisdiction in 
England. Inconstant in his aifections, and a stranger to all humanity, 
he removed Anna Bullen from the throne to the scaffold, to gratify a 
new passion for Jane Seymour, a maid of honour, who happily dtod 
about a year after. To her succeeded Anne of Cleves, whom he 
divorced in nine months, to make way lor Catharine Howard. She 
underwent the same fate with Anna Bullen, on a similar suspicion ol 
infidelity to his bed. His sixth wife, Catharine PaiT, with difficulty 
retained her hazardous elevation, but had the good fortune to sur- 
vive the tyrant. 

4. On t'he death of Henry VllL, 1,547, and the accession of his son 
'idward V'l., the protestant religion prevailed in England, and was 
tiivoured by the sovereign ; but he died at the early age of fifteen, 
1 ,553 ; und the sceptre passed to the hands of his sister Mary, an ir. 



MODERN HlSTOKi'. 176 

tolerant catholic, and most cruel persecutor of" the protestants. In 
her reign, which was of five years" duration, above 800 miserable 
victims were burnt at a stake, martyrs to their religious opinions. 
Mary inherited a congenial spirit with her husband, Philip 11. ot Spain, 
whose intolerance cost him the loss of a third part of his dominions. 

o. Mary was succeeded in 1,558 by her sister Elizabeth, the daugh- 
ter of Anna BuUen, a protestant, the more zealous from an arbhor- 
rence of the character of her predecessor. In her reign the religion 
of England became stationary. The hierarchy was established in its 
present'form, by archbishops, bishops, priests, and deacons, the king 
oeing by law the liead oi' the church. The liturgy had been settled 
in the reign of lildward VI. The canons are agreeable chieriy to the 
Lutheran tenets. 

Of the "i-eformation in Scotland we shall afterwards treat under a 
separate section. 



SECTION XLI. 

OF THE DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST OF AMERICA BY THE 
SPANIARDS. 

1. Among those great events which distinguished the age of Charles 
V. was the conquest of Mexico by Ferrnindo Cortez, and of Peru by 
the two brothers, Francis and Gonzalo Pizarro. The discovery ol 
America preceded the lirst of these events about twenty-seven years, 
but the accoant of it has been postponed, that the whole may be 
shortly treated in con?iexion. 

Christopher Calumbus, a Genoese, a man of an enterprising spirit, 
having in vain solicited encouragement from his native state, from 
Portugal, and from England, to attempt discoveries in the western 
ocean, applied to Ferdinand and^ Isabella of Spain. Under the patron- 
age of Isabella, as queen of Castile, he was furnished with three 
small shijis, ninety men, and a lew thousand ducats for the expense 
of his voyage. Alter thirty-three days' sail irom the Canaries he dis- 
covered San Salvador, September, 1,492; and soon after the islands 
of Cuba and Hispaniola. He returned to Spain, and brought a few 
of the natives, some presents of gold, and curiosities of the country. 
He was treated by the Spaniards with the higliest honours, and soon 
supplied with a suitable armament for the prosecution of his discove- 
ries. In his second voyage he discovered the Caribbees and Jamaica. 
In a third voyage he descried the continent of America, within ten 
degrees of the equator, toward tlie isthmus of Panama. The next 
year the geographer Americus ibllowcd the track of Columbus, and 
had the undeserved honour of giving his name to this continent. 

2. The inhabitants of America and its islands were a race of men 



quite new to the Europeans. They are of the colour of copper. In 
some quarters, as in Mexico and Peru, the Spaniards arc said to have 
found a nourishing empire, and a people polished, rehned, and luxu- 
rious; in others, man was a n;died savage, the member of a wander- 
ing tribe, whose sole occupation was hunting or war. The savages 
ofthe continent were characterized by their cruelty to their enemies, 
their contempt of death, and their generous affection for their friends. 
The inhabitants of the islands were a milder race, of gentler manners, 
and less hardy conformation of body and mind. Tke larger animals,' 
as the horse, the cow, were unlcnown in America. 



no MODERN HISTORY. 

3. Thosp newly-discovered countries were believed to contain in- 
exhaustible treasures. The Spaniai'ds, under the pretence of reli- 
gion and policy, treated the inhabitants w ith the most shocking inhu- 
manity. The ruck, the scourge, the laggot, were employed to con- 
vert them to Christianity. They wpre hunted like wild beasts, or 
burnt alive in their tliicUets and llistnesses. Hispaniola, containing 
three millions of inhabitants, and Cuba, containing above 600,000, 



were absolutely depopulated in a few ye.irs. It was now resolved to 
explore the continent; and Feniisndo Cortcz, with eleven ships and 
617 men, sailed lor that purpose from Cuba in 1,519. Landing at 



Tabasco, he advanced, though with a brave opposition from the na- 
tives, into the interior of the country. The state of Tiascala, alter 
inelTectual resistance, became the ally of the Sj)aniar'ls. On the ap- 
proacli of the Spaniards to ]\lexico, the terror of their name had pav- 
ed the Nvay for an easy conquest. 

4. The Mexican empire, ihougb founded little more than a century 
before this period, hail arisen to great splendour. Its sovereign, Mon- 
tezuma, received the invaders with the rever-ence due to superior 
beings. But ti short acquaintance opened the eyes of the Mexicans. 
Finding nothing in the Spaniards beyond what was human, they were 
daring enough to attack and put to death a few of them. The in- 
trepid Cortez immediately marched to the palace with fifty men, 
and putting the emperor in irons, carried him off prisoner to his 
camp; where he afterwards persuaded him to acknowledge himself 
a Vcissal of tiie king of Castile, to hold his crown of the king as his 
superior, and to subject his dominions to the payment of an annual 
tribute. 

5. Velasquez, governor of Cuba, jealous of Cortez, attempted to 
supersede him, by despatching a superior army to the continent; but 
Cortez defeated his troops, and compelled thein to join his own ban- 
ners. In an attack by the Mexicans lor the rescue of their sovereign, 
Montezuma, havingoiibred to mediate between them and their ene- 
mies, was indignantly put to death by his own su'.jjects. The whole 
empire, under its new sovereign, Guatimozin, was now armed against 
the Spaniards ; and while the plains were covered with their archers 
and spearmen, the lake of Mexico was tilled with armed canoes. To 
oppose the latter the Spaniards built a few vessels under the walls of 
their city, and soon evinced their superiority to their feeble foe on 
both elements. The monarch was.takcn prisoner by the officers of 
Cortez, antl was stretched naked on burning coals, because he refus- 
ed to discover his treasures. Soon after a conspiracy against the 
Spaniards was discovered, and the wretched Guatimozin, wiih all the. 
princess of his blood, were executed on a gibbet. This was the last 
blow to the power of the Mexicans; and Cortez was now absolute 
master of the whole empire, 1,525. 

6. In the year 1,5:31 Diego DWlmagro and Francis Pizarro, with 
250 foot, GO horse, and 12 small pieces of cannon, landed in Peru, a 
large and flourishing empire, governed by an ancient race of mon- 
archs named Incas. Tiie Inca Atabaiipa receiving the Spaniards with 
reverence, they immediately required him to embrace the christian 
faith, anil surrender all his dominions to the emperor Charles V.,who 
had obtained a gift of them from the pope. The proposal being mis- 
uniierstood, or received with hesitation, Pizarro seized the monarch 
IS his prisoner, while his troops mas-acred 5,000 of the Peruvians on 
die spot. The empire was now plund-^.red of prod^ious tre;isures in 
gold niul prccjo'js stones; and Atabaiipa, being suspected of conceal- 



MODERN HISTORY. 177 

mg a part from his insatiable invaders, was solemnly tried as a crimi- 
nal, and strangled at a stake. 

7. The cour.ige of tiie Spaniards surpassed even their inhumanity. 
D'Alniagro inarched 500 leagues, through continual opposition, to 
Cusco, and penetrated across the Cordilleras into Chili, two degrees 
beyond the southern tropic. He was slain in a civil war between 
hiiii and his associate Francis Fizarro, who was soon after assassinated 
by the party of his rival. A few years after the Spaniards discover- 
ed the inexhaustible silver mines of Potosi, which they compelled 
the Peruvians to work for their advantage. They are now wrought 
by the negroes of Africa. The native Peruvians, who are a weakly 
race of men, were soon almost exterminated by cruelty and intoler- 
able labour. The humane bishop of Chiapa remonstrated with suc- 
cess to Charles V. on this subject ; and the residue of this miserable 
people have been since treated with more indulgence. 

8. The Spanish acquisitions in America belong to the crown, and 
not to the state: they are the absolute property of the sovereign, 
aad regulated solely by his will. They consist of three provinces, 
Mexico, Peru, antl Terra Firma ; and arc governed by three vice- 
roys, who exercise supreme civil and military authority over their 
respective provinces. There are eleven courts of audience lor the 
administration of justice, with whose judicial proceedings the vice- 
roys cannot intertere ; and their judgments are subject to appeal to 
the i-oyal council of I'lie Indies, wnose jurisdiction extends to every 
department, ecclesiastical, civil, military, and commercial. A tribu- 
nal In Spain, called Casa cle ia Cualratucion, i-egulates the departure 
ot] the fleets, and thtir destination and equipment, under the contro- 
of the council of the Indies. 

9. The gold and silver of Spanish America, though the exclusive 
property of the crown of Spain, has, by means of war, marriages oi 
princes, and extension of commerce, come into general circulation, 
and has greatly increased the (pianiity of specie, and diminished*the 
value of money over all Europe. 



SECTION XLII. 

POSSESSIONS OF THE OTHER EUROPEAN NATIONS IN AMER- 
ICA. THE UNITED STATES. 

1. The example of the Spaniards excited a desire in the other 
nations of Em ope to participate with them in the riches of the new 
world. The French, in 1,557, attempted to form a settlement on 
the coast of Brazil, where the Portuguese had already established 
themselves from the beginning of the century. The colatiy was 
divided by faction, and was soon utterly destroyed by the Portu- 
guese. It is one of the richest of the American settlements, both 
from the produce of its soil, and its mines of gold and precious 
stones. 

2. The Spaniai^s were in possession of Florida when the French, 
attempted to colonize it in 1,564. without success. The Fren^-h 
established a settlement in Acadie in 1,604, and founded Quebec in 
Canada in 1,608. But these settlements were perpetually subject to 
attack from the English. In 1,629 the French had not a loot of 
territory in America. Canada has been repeatedly taken by th» 

23 



178 MODERN HISTORY. 

English, and restored, by different treaties, to the French , but since 
the pesce of l,7fi3 it has been a Britisli ?*^ttlement. The French 
drew tlieir greatest advantages from the isiimds ol bt. j/omintro. 
Guadalonpe, and Martinico. From their continental possessions of 
Louisiana, and the settlements on the Mississippi, which they have 
now lost, they never derived any solid beneht. 

3. The Dutch have no settlement on the continent of America, 
but Surinam, a part of Guiana; and, in the West-Indies, the islands 
of Currassoa and St. Eustatius. The Danes possess the inconsidera- 
ble islands of St. Thomas and Santa Cruz. 

4. The British have extensive settlements on the continent of 
America, and in the West-India ishmds. England ilerived her right 
to her settlements in North Americajlrom the hr?t discovery of the 
country by Sebastian Cabot in l,407,]ihe year belbre the discovery 
of the continent ol' South America by Columbus ; but no attempts 
were inade by the F.nglisrh to colonize any part, of the country till 
Qearly a century afterward. This remarkable neglect is in some 
measure accounted for by the frugal maxims of Henry V 11., and the 
unpropitious circumstances of the reigns of Henry \' 111., of Ed ward VI., 
and of the bigoted Mary: reigns peculiarly adverse to the extension 
of industry, trade, and navigation, 

5. In 1,585 sir AValter Raleigh .undertook to settle a colony in Vir- 
ginia, so named in honour of his queen ; but his attempts were fruit- 
less. Two colonies, destined for settlement, were successively sent 
over to the Virghiian territory; but the tii-st was reduced to great dis- 
tress, and taken back to ICngland by sir Francis Drake ; the second, 
left unsupported, could never afterward be found. 

6. in 1.6U6 king .James granted a patent for settling two planta* 
tions on the main coasts of North America. Dividing that portion 
of the country, which stretches from the thirty-lburth to the iorty- 
fifth degree of latitude, into two districts nearly equal, he granted 
the southern, called the hrst colony, to the London company, and 
the northern, called the second, to the Plymouth company. On 
the reception of this patent several persons of distinction in the Eng 
lish nation undertook to settle the southern colony; and in 1,607 the 
first permanent colony \vas settled in V irginia. 

7. The tirst settlement in the northern district was made at Ply- 
mouth in 1,620, by a number of puritans, who, having a few years 
belbre left England, to liberate themselves from the oppressions of 
the episcopal hierarchy, had found a temporary asylum in Holland. 
In 1,629 the patent of Mass.ichusetts was confirrnetl by king Charles 
I. ; and in the following year a large body of English non-conforniists 
settled that territory. The settlement of (.'onrecticut was begun in 
1,636 by emigrants from Massachusetts. The settlement of Provi- 
dence, in Rhode Island, was begun the same year by Roger Wil- 
liams, a clergyman, who, for his refusal to submit to the control of 
the government of Massachusetts, in religious matters, had been ex- 
iled from that colony. New York, originally settled by the Dutch, 
and by them called New Netherlands, was taken from them by the 
English in 1 ,664, at which time it was subjected to the British crown, 
and settled by English colonists. New Jersey was settled in 1,667, 
principally by quakers irom England. The charter ol" Pennsylvania 
was given in. 1,681 by king Charles 11. to Wihiam Penn ; and a set- 
tlement was begun the same year by a colony consisting principally 
of quakers. The patent of Maryland was given by king Charles I. 
to lord Baltimore m 1,632; and two years afterward the colony wa» 



MODERN HISTORY. ITO 

settled by a body of Roman catholics from England. Tlie charter 
of Carolina was granted by Charles II. to the earl of Clarendon and 
several associates in 1,663; and that colony was soon after settled by 
(he English. In 1,729 the province was divided into two distinct 
governments, one of v.hich was called ?sorth, and the other 
bouth Carolina. The charter of Georgia was given in 1,732 by kin^ 
George II. to a number of persons in England, who, from motives ot 
patriotism and humanity, projected a settlement in that wild territory. 
By this measure it was intended to obtain, first, possession of an exten 
sive tract of country; to strengthen the province of Carolina; to 
rescue a great number of people in Grent Britain and Ireland from 
the miseries of poverty ; to open an asyiuril for persecuted protes- 
tants in different parts of Europe ; and to attempt the conversion and 
civilization of the natives. Under the guidance of general Ogle- 
thorpe a colony was settled here in 1,733. Nova Scotia was settled 
in the reign of James 1. The Floridas were ceded by Spain to Great 
Britain at the peace of 1,763; but they were reduced by the arms 
of his catholic majesty (huiug the American war, and guaranteed to 
the crown of Spiiin by the definitive treaty of 1,783. 

8; All the British colonies in North America Avere subject to the 
government of Great Britain from the time of their settlement un- 
til the year 1,775. Opposilion to certain measures of the British 
parliament, the tendency of wlwch, was to claim for the king and 
parliament of Great Britain, a right to tax colonies, tiiat did not send 
representatives to parliament, a:i:i were therefore hostile to rights and 
liberties, that had been enjoyed and exercised by the colonies from 
tneir origin, having induced the government to send troops to Amer- 
ica to enforce submission to their laws, hosUlilies commenced in 
April, 1,77a. In l,i76 the American congress declared the United 
States independent. In September 1,783, a detinitive treaty of peace 
was concluded, by which his Britannic majesty acknowledged the 
United States of America to be free, sovereign, and independent 
states. In 1,789 the government of these states was organized, con- 
formably to the federal constitution ; and George Washington, who 
had been commander inchief of the revolutionary army, was inaugu- 
rated the iirst president. 

9. The Dritisii colonies in America, and the United Stales,| are 
greatly inferioiyo the Spanish American colonies in natural riches, 
as they produce neither silver nor gold, nor cochineal; yet they 
are in general of fertile soil, and considerably improved by industry. 
Tiiey alibrd a prolitable market tor European manufactures. Canada 
furaishes lor exportation wheat, flour, llax-seed, lumber, tisli, potash, 
oil, ginseng, furs, pelts, and vari^aus other commodities. The pro- 
duce of the West India islands (Jamaica, Barbadocs, St. Christopher's, 
Antigua, the Granadas, and other islands), in sugar, coffee, cocoa, 
rum, molasses, cotton, and other articles, is of very gteat value to 
the mother country. The northern states in flie iederal union fur- 
nish masts, ship timl)er, lumber, potash, furs, pelts, tish, beef, pork, 
butter, cheese, rye, and maize; the middle states, (lour, maize, 
llax-seed, peas, deer skins, and other pelts; and the southern states, 
rice, flour, indigo, cotton, tobacco, pork, live oak, tar, pitch, and 
turpentine. 



180 MODERN HISTORY. 



SECTION XIIII. 

OF THE STATE OF THE FINE ARTS IN EUROPE IN THE AGE 
OF LEO X. 

1. In enumerating those great objects which characterized the 
end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century, we 
remarked the high advancement to whicii the tine arts attained in 
Europe in the age of Leo X. The strong bent which the human 
mind seems to take, in certain periods, to one class of pursuits in 
preference to all othei-s, as in the age of Leo X., to the hne arts of 
painting, sculpture, and architecture, may be partly explained from 
moral causes; such as the peaceful state of a country, the genius or 
taste, and the liberal encouragement of its sovereigns, the general 
emulation that arises where one or two artists are of confessed emi- 
nence, and the aid which men derive from the studies and works of 
one another. These causes have doubtless great inlhience, but do 
not seem entirely sufficient to account for the fact. The operation 
of such causes must be slow and gradual. In the case of the line 
arts, the transition from obscurity to splendour was rapid and instan- 
taneous. From the contemptible mediocrity in which they had re- 
mained for ages, they rose at one step to the highest pilch ot" excel- 
lence. 

2. The arts of painting and sculpture were buried in the west un- 
der the ruins cf the Roman empire. They gradually declined in 
the latter ages, as we may perceive by the series of fi.e coins of the 
lower empire. The Ostrogoths, instead of destroymg, sought to 
})reserve the monuments of taste and genius. They were even the 
inventors of some of the arts dependent on design, as the composition 
of Mosaic. iJut, in the middle ages, those arts were at a very low 
ebb in Eurojie. They began, however, to revive a little about the 
end of the thirteenth century. Cimabue, n Florentine, from the 
sight of the paintings of someGreek artists in one of the churches, 
began to attempt similar performances, and soon excelled his models. 
His scholars were Ghiotto, Gaddi, Tassi Cavillini, and Stephano Fio- 
rentino; and they formed an academy at Fl'Orcnce in 1,350. 

3. The works of those early painters, with some fidelity of imita- 
tion, had not a spark of grace or elegance ; and such continued to be 
the state of the art till toward the end of the fifteenth century, when 
it arose at once to the summit of perfection. Raphael painted at 
first in the hard manner of his master Perugino; but soon deserted 
it, and struck at once into the noble, elegant, and graceful ; in short, 
the imitation of the antique. This change was the result of genius 
alone. The ancient sculptures were familiar to the early painters, 
but they had looked on them with cold indifference. They were 
ne^v surveyed by other eyes. Michael Angelo, Raphael, and Leo- 
nardo da Vinci, were animated by the same genius that formed the 
Grecian Appellcs, Zeuxis. Glycon, Fhidiiis, and Praxiteles. 

4. Nor was Italy alone thus distinguished. Germany, Flanders, and 
Switzerland, produced in the same age artists of consummate merit. 
Before the notice of these we shall briefly characterize the schoola 
jf Italy. 

5. tirst in order is the school of Florence, of which the most em- 
inent master was Michael Anf^elo. born in 1,474. His works are 



MODERN HISTORY. 181 

characterized by a profound kno%vledge of the anatomy ofthe human 
fi^^i're, perhaps chieHy formed on the contemplation of the ancient 
sclilptares. His paintings exhibit the grand, the subhme, and lerri- 
lie i hut he drew not from the antique its simple grace and beauty. 

G. 'I'he Rom;ui school was foundotl by KaplKiel d'Urbinoj horn in 
1 . to.i. Tiiis great painter united almost every excellence ot the art. 
Ill invention, grace, mnjsstic simplicity, forcible expression of the 
pussions, he stands unrivalled, and far beyond all competition. 1 le 
Iras borrowed liberally, but without servility, from tlie antique. 

7. Of the school ot Lombardy, or the Venetian, the most eminent 
artists were 'J'itian, Gioigione, Corrogio, and Paimeggiano. Titian 
is most eniment in portrait, and in the painting of female beauly. 
Such is the truth of Ids colouring, that his figures are nature ilscif. 
it was the testimony of Michael Angeio to the merits of Titian, tha.t, 
if he had studied at Rome or Florence, amidst the master-pieces of 
antiquity, h(! would have eclipsed all the painters in the world. Ti- 
(i ui lived to the age of a hundred. Giorgione, with similar merils, 
was cut olT in the (lower of iiis youth. Corrcggio was superior in 
colouri.ig, an.l in the knowledge of light and shade, to all who have 
preceded or followed him. This knowledge was the result of stu(jy. 
lii other painters those edi^cts are frequently accidental, as we ob- 
serve that they are not uniforaj. Parmcggiano imitated the graceful 
manner of Raphael, but carried it to a degree of alTectation. 

8. Such were the three original Italian schools. The character of 
the Florentine is grandeur and sublimity, with great exceiience oi 
de'i^n, but a want of grace, of skill in colouring, and efiect of light 
and s.iade. The character of the Roman is equal excellence of de- 
sign, H grandeur tempered with moderation and simplicity, a high 
diij^jree of gr.ice and elegance, and a superior knowledge, though not 
u.i excellence, in colouring. The character of the Venetian is the 
perfection of colouring, and the utmost force of light and shade, 
vvitli an inleriority in every otiier particular. 

'J. To the school of Raphael succeeded the second Roman school, 
or that of the Caraccis, three brothers, of whom Annibal was the 
moit fmious, I lis scliolars were, Guerciao, Albano, Lanfranc, Dom- 
enichiuo, and Guido. Of these eminent painters the first and bst 
were the b(!St. The (deganc contours of Guercino, and the strength 
sweetness, and majesty of Guido, are the admiration of a!! true judges 
Of p doling. 

IJ. In the same age tlie Flemish school, though of a quite differ- 
ent character, and inferior to the Italian, shone with great lustre. 
Oil painting was invented by the Flemings in tlii* lifleenth century : 
and, in that age, lleemskirk, Frans Floris, (^uintin Matsys, ami the 
(.i.Minan Albert Durer, were deservedly distinguished. Ofthe Flem 
ish scliool, Rubens, though a painter of a much later age, is the 
ciiief ornament. His figures, thovigh too corpulent, are drawn with 
groat truth and nature. He possesses inexhaustible invention, and 
giV.it sljil in the expression of the passions. Switzerlatid produced 
! 1 m- iloihi'ia. a painter of great eminence in portrait, and retnarki- 
i)le for truth of coloiuing. From his residence at the court of Henry 
^ \\\. there are more s}>ecimens of his works in Britain than of any 
oiIkm- foreign painler. Holland had likewise its painters, uhose chief 
merit was tin- fiiithlhl n'presentation of vulgar nature, and perliect 
kuoxvledge of the mechaiusm of the art, the power of colours, and 
the effect of light and shade. 

11. With the art of painting, sculpture and architecture were like 
Q 



188 MODERN HISTOIIY. 

wiao revived in tne some age, and brought almost to perferlion. 

'V\w. un)vers;il genius oi" Micliael Arigtlo sliono equally cotisi-icuoi'.s 
ill all (he three denai-tnicnts. ]li!? slalue of Bacchus \va> iucij^ctl I y 
l{;ij)liael to 1)0 the work of piiidias oi l'raxitol"s. The (Jivci.in ai"- 
rliiieciutv was liisl revived hy the Florentines in ilie foiirtef'r.lh cen- 
tury; ancl the cath(!<h-:d ot" Fisa was conslnu ted i^iully iVein ih • nia- 
leiids ol'an ancient Greek temple. Tlie art airixed at pertecliun in 
tilt.' a^e of Loo X., when Use church of St. Fetor's at Hone, und»-r 
the dir.'Ction ofiiramante. San Gallo, Raphael, and ^licha.-l Augel«, 
exliihited the nohlesl specimen oJ"_ architecture in liie wnr^d. 

1"^. The invention ol' the art of engraving on copper Iv 'Fo'naso 
Fiiii^uerra, a goldsmith of Florence, is dated ahout I.-IGU. "I,'ri,rn Ita- 
ly it travelled into Flanders, wliero it was lirsl practised iy riaidn 
Schoen of Antwerp. IJis scliolar was the celelirated Albert iJnrei-, 
who engraved excellenily both on copper and on wood. Ftchiui; (\\ 
coppe.-hy meansofaqualoitis. which gives more case than the sliV ke 
ot'ilie graver, was discoyei'ed by Farmeggiano, who executed in ihiil 
manner his own beautiful designs. No art underwent, in its early 
stages, so rapi([ an improvement as that of engraving, hi the coiwse 
ol' 150 ye;irs tVom its invention it attained nearly to, its perlection ; 
tor there has been little proportional i-.uprovemenl in the last century, 
since the days of Audran, Foilly, and Ldelijick. 

l;5. The art of engraving in nie/zotinto is of much later date than 
the ordinary modc! of engraving on copper. It \vas the invention ()f 
prince Rupert about 1,(351). It is characteii/.ed by a softness e(pial 
to that of the pencil, and a happy blending ol" light and shade, anil is 
therefore pcculiarl}- adapted to portrait, where those requisites aio 
most essential. 

II. The age of Leo X. was likewise an ^ra of very high literary 
splendour J but of the distinguished writers of that period we shall 
afterwards treat, in a connected view of the progress of literature 
and the sciences during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 



tFXTlOX XLIV. 
OF THE OTTOMAN POWER L\ THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 

1. FiioM the period of ihe taking of Constantinople, in the mitldle 
of the ^ilteenth century, the Turks were a great and conquering 
people.! In tlie sixteenth century, Selim I., after he had subdued 
^yria and Mesopotamia, undertook the conquest of Egypt, tlien gov- 
erned by the ^Mamelukes., a race of Circassians, who had sei/ed the 
countrv in 1,250, and put .in end to the government of the Arabinn 
princes, the posterity of Salailin. The conquest of Egypt by Selim - 
made little change in the form of its government, it professes to 
own the sovereignty of the Turks, butls in reality still governed by 
the Mameluke beys. 

2. Solyman (the magnificent) son of Selim, was, like bis prede- 
ce 
k 



.'ssors, a great conqueror. The island of Rhodes, possessed by the 
iiiglils of St. John, was a darling object of his ambition. 'l"h<-se 
kniglits had expelled the Saracens from the island in 1,310. S.dy- 
man attacked RhoJ-s with 110,000 men and 100 shi; s. The Vlho- 
dian knights, aided by the English, Italians, and Spaniards, made a 
noble defence; but, after a siege ol' many months, were lorced to 
capitulate and evacuate the island, in 1,522. Since that time Rhodes 



MODERN HiSTOilY. 103 

has bo.cn the proper.y of the Tiii'ks The commercial l<>ws of the 

nnoient Hhoili-.m? were aiiopted by the Komiins, and at tliis dny are 
f!i^ i(!ii!i:i iiio!! of thy m.u-itiine iuri-spnuionce ol" all the nations of 

ivjiv,;,,,. 

.3. .-iolyiniii ftiib;Iiir!(! tlio gr^ntrr part of Hongp.ry, i^bildaAia, nn'l 
W.ii.ic.iii.i; ail i took fro.n tha Poistans (ieorgia and Ba^idaj. [lis- 
so'i Soii u II. took Cypnis Iroin the Venstiaiis \n J.oTl. I'iioy ap- 
piie I loitie pope lor aid, who, toi»ctlier with Fhiiip 11. o!' Spain. ciiliM"- 
el i.ito a triple alliance ag linst-the Ottoman power. An arnianient <>l 
iio.) .ship-! ot WW, comm iiukvd i)y Philip's natural brotlior, J)on Jf.tui 
oi' AiisLri iJ w.is oppo-iod to 2a.> Tui-kijih galiies in thn gulf of l,e- 
|)afUi), near Corintii; and the Turks were deieated, with liie los> vi 
i.')J snips and lo.UOJ men, 1,j71. Tiiis groat victory was soon alter 
tolio.vr^d by tlie taking of Tunis by the same commander. 

4. B It tiiesa successes were of little consequence. The Otto- 
in 111 povv'LM- continued extremely formidable. Under Amurat'i 11. (he 
'I'urks mi l;j eiicro ichments on Hungary, and subdued a part of Pei- 
si.i. iM.iiioin.H 111., thougii a barbarian in his private character, sup- 
ported the dignity of the empire, and extended its dominions. The 
Ditoinin po.ver declined from his time, and yielded tr> that of the 
Pfi-sia IS under Schah-Abbas the great, who wrested from the 'lurks 
u i.trge part of th:.;ir late-acquired dominioa?. 



SECTION XLV. 

STATK OE PKRSIA AND OTHER ASIATIC KIN'JDOMS IN THE 
SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES. 

1. Thk great empire of Persia, in the end of the fifteenth century, 
on lerwent a revolution on account of religion. Hayda." or Sophi, ;; 
religious entini-'i ist, estabiislie 1 a new sect of 3Iahometans, which 
liLM 1 Mi to be the successor of Mahomet instead of Omar, and abol- 
i-Iied the pilgrimnges to Mecca. The Persians eagerly embraced a 
doctrine which ilislia^^uished tiiem from their enemies the Turks; 
an I Urn lel, the sou of Sophi, following the example of Mahomet, 
entbrced his opinions by t!»e sword, lie sulxlued all Persia and Ar- 
meni.i, and left this vast empire to his descendants. 

2. Schah-Abbas, surnam^d the great, was the grcat-rrandson of 
Ismiel Sophi. He ruled his empire with despotic sway, but with 
most able policy. He regained the provinces which had been 
taken by the Turks, and drove the Portuguese from their settlement 
of Or.nu/.. He rebuilt the fallen cities of Persia, and. contributed 
greatly to the introductiop. of arts and civilization. His son Schali- 
Sesi reiJiiied we.ikly and unfortunitety. In his time Schah-Gean, the 
great Mogul, deprived Persia ofCandahai ; and tbe Turks look l>ag- 
dil in l,().-;8. From that period the Persian monarchy gnidualiy (>e- 
clined. Its sovereigns became the most (Ivspicable slaves to their 
own ministers; an I a revolution in the beginning of the eighteenth 
century put an end to tlie dynasty of the Sophis, and gave the ihroue 
to tiie AigUin princes, ;i r.ice of 'Eartars. 

:\ TIm gov.M-nni.^nt of PcM'si.i is almost as despotic as that of Tur- 
key. Th^ sovereign dr.iws a small yearly tax from every subject, 
and receives likevyise stated gifts on particular occasions. The 
crown is 'hereditary,! with the exclusion of females; but the sons of 



184 MODERN 11 IbTOKY. 

a daughter succeed in their course. There is no other rank 
sia than that annexed to oflice, which is held during the mor.a 

gleasure. The national reUgion is ll>e j"\hihoinetan, as relortncd 
ophi. The sect of the Guebres preserve the rtlij^ion of Zoinastcr, 
as containeti in tlie Zendavesta and Sadder, and li.eep alive tlie sacred 
lire. (Part I., Sect. XI.) 

4. Ihe poetry of the Persians disphiys great fancy and luxuriance 
of imagery. The epic poet Firdovisi is said to rival the varitms 
merits ol' Homer and Ariosto; and tiie writings of Sadi and Halez, 
both in prose and poetry, are admired by all who are conversant in 
oriental literature. 

5. Tartary. From this vast tract of coontry sprang those con- 
queroi-s who produced all the great revolutions in Asia. Tartary is no 
more than a vast desert, inlialiiled by wandering tribes, who Ibllow 
the life of the ancient Scytidans. The Turks, a race of Tarlai-a 
overwhelmed the empire of the caliphs, ftlahnioud, a I'artar, ccn- 
(luered Pei^ia and great part of India in the tenth century. The 
Tartar Gengiscan subdued India, China, Persia, and Asiatic Russia, in 
Kie beginning of the thirteenth century. Baloucan, one of his .sons, 
ravaged to the frontiers of GeiTnany. Tamerlane, the scourge of 
the Turks, and the conqueror of a great part of Asia, was of the 
race of Gengisca.i. Bubar, great-grandson of Tanitrlane, subdued 
all the country between Samarcand and Agra in the empire tf the 
ISIogul. The descendants of those conqueroi j reign in India, Persia, 
and China. 

G. Tkibet. The southern part of Tartary, called Thibet, exhibits 
the phenomenon of a kingdom governed by a human being called 
the l)alai Lama, or Great Lama, whose divinity is acknowledged 
not only by his own subjects, but over China and a part of India. 
This supposed god is a young man, whom the priests educate and 
train to his function, and in whose name they in reality govern the 
kingdom. 



SECTION XLVI. 
HISTORY OF INDIA. 

1. The earliest accounts of this great tract of civilized country 
are those of Herodotus, who lived about a century belore Alexander 
the great; and it is remarkable that the character given of the people 
by that early writer, corresponds perfectly with that of tke modern 
Hindoos. He had probably taken his accounts from Scylax of Cari- 
andria, whom Darius Hystaspes had sent to ex})lore the counlr}\ 
But till the age of Alexander, the Greeks had no particular knowl- 
edge of that extraordinary people. Alexandei penetrated into the 
Panyab, where his troops refusing to proceed, he embarked on the 
Hyclaspas, which runs into the Indus, and thence pursued his coui-se 
lor above 1,000 miles to the ocean. The narrative given by Arrian 
of this expedition was taken from the verbal accounts of Alexander's 
officers ; and its parliculai-s agree yet more remarkably thati those ol 
Hero'totus with the modern manners of the Hindoos. 

2. India was visited by Seleucus, to whose skare it fell in the par- 
tition of Alexander's empire; and Antiochus tJie great, 20C jeart 



MODERN HISTORY. 185 

aftenvard, made a short expedUion thither. It is probable too timt 
somti sniiU intercourse subsisted between tiie Greek empire of Ijac- 
triana ami in;!iii ; but, till the iifteenth century, no European power 
thought of tbraiing ;my estiibli^hment in that country. From the age 
ol AL'xaniler down to'tlio period of the Portuguese dl-scoveries there 
had coastautly beea s-ome comm:^rcial intercourse between Europe 
and ln.!i;i, bulb [)V sea and across the desert. 

J. 'I'no Maliom^^tan^, as early as A. D. 1,000, had begun to estab- 
lisU ;m empire in India. Mahmoud, a Tartar, conquered a great 
part of tlip country, and estaliiished his capital at Ghazna, near the 
sources ot the Indus, extirpating, wherever he came, the Hindoo 
religion, ar.d cslablisiiing the Mahometan in its stead. Mohammed 
Gon, in 1,194, penetrated to Benares; and one of his successoi-s 
fixed the seat of his empire at Delhy, which has continued to be the 
capital of the Mogul princes. The sovereignty founded by IMah- 
moul was overwhelmed in 1,222 by Gengiscaii, as was his empire in 
thj tollowing century by Tamerlane, whose posterity arc at this day 
on li>e tliroH'- of the .Mogul empire. 

4. Tne :\h^gul empii-e w;is, even in the beginning of the IHtli cen- 
tury, the most powerful and Uouri-hing of all the Asiatic monarchies. \ 
'I'ua emperor Aurjngi.v.'be, the son of Schah-Gean though a mon- ' 
sin- of cru.diy, and a most despotic tyrant, et.joyed a life prolonged 
to a hundred years, crowned with uninterrupted prosperity and suc- 
cosi. He extended his empire over the Avhole peninsula cf Irdia 
witiiia the G aiges. 

5. Tne dominion of the Mogul is not ahsolute over all the coun- 
tries whic'n compose his empire. Tamerlane a-llowed the petty 
princes, rajdis or n;d:)oLs, to relun their territories, of which theii 
desce. idaals are at this day in posses^^ion. Tiiey pay a ti'ibute to the 
great Mogul, as an acknowledgment of his sovereignty, and ob- 1 
s.^rve the treaties agreed to by their ancestors; but they are in 
otiier respecis i-vlependent princes. 

G. Reng il became a part of the MoguFs empire by conquest in the 
end of the sixteenth contur}-, and xvas commonly governed by a son 
ol' the great Mogul, who had under hiui several inferior nabobs, the 
former princes of the coimtry. Such was its con;Iition when the 
British East India company i between 1,751 and 1,76U, conquered and 
obtii'.ied possession of thrd kingdom, together with Bahar anJ 
part of (Jrissa, a large, populous, and most tiourishing country, coti' 
taiaing above ten millions of inhahilants, and producing an immense 
revenue; and I'.iese territories have since that period received a con- 
si br tide ad.liiion. The East India company Iris the beneht of tiie 
wiioie co;amerce of the Mogul empire, with Arabia, I'ersiii, and 
Tnibet, as well as with the kingdoms of A/.-mi, Aracan, Begu, Siam, 
M.dacci, China, and many of the oriental islaiuls. 

Tne fixed estabiishm nits of the British in the country of Indostan 
have ail'urded opportunity of obtaining much instructive knowicilge 
relative to tlu- ancient state of that country, of which we shall give 
d short sk'jtch in the loilowhig .section. 

q2 24 



188 MODERN HSITORY. 



SECTION XLVIl 



ANCIENT STATE OF INDIA. MANNERS, LAWS, ARTS, 
SCIENCES, AND RELIGION OF THE HINDOOS. 

1. TnK rernnins of the ancient knowledge of the Hindoos have 
I>cen prescM-ved by a hereditary priesthood,^ in the Sanscrit language^ 
long since extinct, and only known to a lew of the Brati "is. llie 
zeal of some learned Europeans has lately opened that sonrce of in- 
forniaiion, whence we derive the most int'er.»iting parliculai-s ol this 
extraordinary people, pei'haps the first cultivators of tlie scicnc* =, 
and the iiistriicters of all the nations of atiliquily. We shall hrieHy 
nt)iicc their .lingular division into casts, their civil policy, laws, prog- 
ress ill the arts and sciences, and rehgion. 

2. The whole body of tlie people was divided into four orders, or 
cnsts. The highest cast, that of the Bramins, was devoted to religion 
and the cultivation of the sciences ; to the second belonged the pres- 
erviitioa of the state ; they were its sovereigns and its magistrates 
in peace, and its soldiers in war; the third were the husbandmen and 
'ni-rchanls; and tiie fourth the artisans, labourers, and servants. 
These are inseparable distinctions, and descend from generation to 
generation. Moreover, the individuals of each class follow invariably 
the prot'o<«ioi'« of their forefathers. Every man, trom his birth, 
knous the funci.on allotted to l.im, and fuUils with ease and salisfac- 
ti)n the duty which he cannot nvoid. Hence arises that per.nanence 
of maimeis and institutions which so singularly characterizes this 
•ancient nation. 

3. This ctassilicalion is an artiticial arrangement, which could have 
originated only from the mind of a legislator among a polished peo- 
ple, completely obedient to government. It is therefore a proof of 
the highly civilized state of the Hindoo nation in the most remote 
pei-iods ol antlqajty. 

4. Tiie civil policy of the Hindoos is another proof of their ancient 
civilization. .\t the lime of Alexander the great, India wi-s divided 
into large and powerful kingdoms, governed by sovereigns whose do- 
minion was not absolute, but controlled by the superior authority of 
the Ih-amins. A system of feudalism has ever prevailed in India. 
The rights to lanil How trom the sovereign, to w hom a certain duty 
IS payable by the class of tlie husbandmen, who transndt their posses- 
sions to their children under the same tenure. Strabo and Diodorus 
remarked three classes of officers among tiie Indians: one class whose 
department was the regulation of agiiculture, tanks, highways; 
unolher wliicli superintended the police of the cities; a third which 
rogidated the mi.itary department. The same policy prevails at this 
day under the Hindoo princes. 

b. The jurisprudence of llindostan is an additional proof of great 
antiquity and ci\ iiization. The Ayen-Akbery. and still more the 
compilation of Hindoo laws from the ancient .Sanscrit records, made 
by ordei <>f Mr. Hastings, contain the jurisprudence of a reliiied and 
t^'ininercud people, among whom law had been a study and proteS' 
siai:. 

(i. Many monuments exist in India of the advanced state of the use- 
ful and elegant arts m the remotest periods of antiquity. The an- 
'jieni pagodas, ot vast extent and magnificence, whether cut io th« 



MODERN HISTORY. 18T 

solid rock, as in Elephanta and Salsette, or in tlie open air, as al 
Cliilambruin and Seringham; the sumptuous residences of tlie Bra- 
mius ; and the ancient hill fortresses, constructed with prodigious 
streugtli and solidity, evince a great advancement in the arts. The 
resort ot' the most polished nations of antiquity to India for cotton 
clotiis, Ijiij linen, and works in metal and ivory, proves these mauu 
iactures to have been superior to all known at tiiattime in Europe. 

7. Tae late translations from tlie Sanscrit of several ioijenious 
eo:nposiiions of hi^h antiquity, as the dramatic piece Sacontaiu, the 
Hitopadcsa^ a series \ji moral apologues and liibles, the MuhabanU, 
jin epic poem, composed above 2,0U0 years before the Christian era, 
nil concur in proot' of a si.nilar advancement in literature. We have 
reason to believe from such works as are of a philosophical nature, 
that tli-jro is scarcely a tenet cf the Greek philosophy which Iv.is not 
been antecedently the subject of discussion among the Bramins of 
India. 

S. The numeral ciphers first introduced into Europe by the Ara- 
bians were, as those authors coiife*;, borrowed from the IndivUis. 
Above a century ago, the French mathematicians evinced, by the 
evidence of a Siamese manuscript, containing tables for calculating 
the placps of t!ie lieaveniy bodies, the astonishing advancement 
made by this ancient people in the science of astronomy. A set of 
astronomical tables oi)tained lately from the Bramins by M. Geitil 
goes back to an era termed Calyouglmm^ commencing 3,1U2 years 
before the birth of Christ. These tables are used by the modern 
Bramins, who are quile ignorant of the principles on which they 
have been constructed. M. Bailly has proved that they are the 
Biiine as those employed by the moderns, with which the Greeks and 
Clialdeans were utterly unacquainted. 

9. Lastly, from the religious opinions and worship of the Hindoos 
we must dr.iw the same, conclusion as from all the preceding facts. 
One uniform system of superstition pervades every religion of India, 
which is supported by the most sagacious policy, and by every thing 
that can exciie the veneration of its votaries. The Bramins, elevat- 
ed above every class of nien, and exclusively acquainted with the 
mysteries of tb.it religion, which it is held impious for any other class 
CO attempt to penetrate ; the implicit reliance on the authority of 
these Br.unins; the ceremonies of their worship, adapted to im- 
l)ress the imagination and to all'ect the passions; all concurretl to forti- 
ly this potenj superstition, and to give its priests a supreme ascen- 
dancy over the minds of the people. But those priests, enlightei.ed 
as they were, rejected chat lalse theology. Their writings demon- 
strate that they entertained rational and elevated conceptions with 
ivgard to the Supreme Being, and the support of the universe. 

10. On the whole, there is a high probability that India was the 
grx;al school trom whioh the most early polished nations of Europe 
derived their knowledge of arts, sciences, and hterature. 

I'ersons who want more particular information respecting India 
are reterred to iAlaurice's Indian Antiquities, and Tennant's Indian 
Ker,r<-ati(ui.s. 



188 MODEKJN HISTORY. 



SECTION XL VIII. 

OF CHINA AND JAPAN, 

1. As we proceed eastward in the survey of the Asiatic r* Mincnt, 
Ihe great empire ot" China next solicits our attention. In the jnd of 
Ihe lentil century, Ciiina, Persia, ard the greater part of li 'a were 
ruled by tlie I'artar desicendant^of Gen};iscan. The Tart<ir liir.ily 
of Vveu, who conquered China, made no change in its laws arid s) v 
tern of goveinmenl, whicl^ had been permanent from tinie irr.mem - 
rial. . Of tills family there reigned nine successive monarchs, witliout 
any a'.tompt by the Chinese to throw (AY the Tartar yoke. The 
Oiiioiis and contemptible character of the last of tliese sovereigns at 
length excited a rebellion, which, in 1,3o7, drove the Tartjirs trom 
the tiirone ; and the Chinese, for 27G yeais, obeyed their native 
princes. The Tartars, taUing advantagcof an insurrection in one of 
(be provinces, invaded Cliina in i,l)41, and made an easy conquest 
'i'he emp<'ror shut himself up in his palace, and, al'ter putting to 
death all his family, tinished the scene by hanging himself. Tlte 
sane Tartars occupy the throne of China at this day, and observe 
the same wise policy of maintaining inviolate the Cliinese laws, poli- 
cy, and manneis. Of these we shall give a brief account in the sub- 
Si ijuent section. 

2. 'i'he empire of Japan was discovered by the Portuguese al>out 
the n.iddle ot" the sixteenth century. The open and unsuspicious 
character of this industrious and pblistied people led them to en- 
courage the resort of foreigners to tlieir ports; and the Spaniards, 
al'ier they had obtained the soveicignty of Portugal, carried on a 
most benelici il trade to tne coasts ot Japan. The emperor zeal- 
ously promoted this intercourse, till tiie insatiable ambition of the 
Spaniards gave him alarming conviction of its danger. Under the 
pretence of converting the Japanese froai idolatry, a vast number 
of priests was sent into the courtry ; and one half of the people 
were speedily set at mortal variance with the other. It now be- 
came necessary to prohibit this work of conversion by an imperial 
edict. However a free trade was allowed till 1,057, when a con- 
spiracy of the Spaniaids for dethroning the emperor and seizing tl.e 
gcvernuient was tliscovcrcd. An edict was issued for the exbui^icn 
ol' all the Spaniards and Portuguese, who resisted till they were 
overpowered l)y ibrce of arms. Since that period al! the European 
nations have been excluded from the ports of Japan. The Dutch 
only, who' had been tiie discovei-ers of tlie conspiracy of the Span- 
iards, ar-e allowed the privilege of landing on taio of the small islaiids, 
for the purpose.- ol' traik, after making oath that tliey are not of the 
Portuguese religion. 



MODERN HISTORY. 189 



SECTION XLIX. 

Oh' THR ANTIQUITY OF THE EMPIRE OF CHINA. STATE 
OF HUE ARTS AN1> SCIENCES, ^MANNERS, GOVERNMExNT 
LAWS. 

1. TiiK rtntiqiilty of this vast empire, and the state of its govem- 
nioiil, laws, nuiniiurs, junl altaiMments in the arts and sciences, have 
fdnii-ilied an am[)ie lield ol'controversy. Voltaire, Ivaynal, and oilier 
writers have };;iven to tlie Chinese enipire an immense antiquity, and 
a character of sucii high civilization and knowledge of the sciences 
and arts at a vei'y remote period, as to be utterly irreconcilable to the 
state and progress of man as described in the books of Moses. On 
the. other hand, it is piobabie that the desire of invalidating those 
opinions has induced other writers of ability to go to an opposite ex- 
treme; to undervalue this singiUnr people, and to give too little 
weight to any accounts which we have received either of the dur.'i- 
tiou of t!»eir empire, of the economy of tlndr government and police, 
or of their attainments in the arts and sciences. Amidst this contra- 
riety of sentiments we shall endeavour to form such opinion as ap- 
pears most consonant to the truth. 

2. The panegyrists of the Chinese assert that their empire has 
subsisted above 4,000 years, without any material alteration in its 
laws, uKinners, language, or even fashion of dress; in evidence of 
ivhich tht-y appeal 1) a series of eclipses, marking contemporary 
events, all .iccurately calculated, for 2,155 years before the birth ot 
Chiist. .As il is easy to calculate eclipses backwards from the pres- 
ent diy to any given period of time, it is thus possible to give 'o a 
hisltiry, ticlilious from beginning to end, its chronology of real 
eclipses. This pr>of therefore amounts to nothitig, unless it were 
likewise proved that all those eclipses were actually recorded at the 
lime wlien they happened; hut this neither has been nor can be 
<lone ; for it is an allowed fact, that there are no regular historical 
records beyond the third century before the christian era. The 
present Chinese are utterly ignorant of the motions of the celestial 
mxlies, and cannot calculate eclipses. The series mentioned has 
therefore in all probability been calculated by some of the Jesuits, 
to ingratiate themselves with the emperors, and tiatler the national 
vani'y. The Jesuits have presided in the tribunal ol mathematics 
for above 200 years. 

.S. But if the authentic annals of this empire go back even to the 
third century before Christ, and record at that time a high state of 
civilization, we must allow tiiat the Chinese are an ancient and early 
polished people, and that they have possessed a singular constancy 
in their government, laws, and manners. Sir William Jones, no 
bigoted encomiast ot this people, allows their great antiquily and 
eaiiy civilization, and, with much apparent probidiility, traces their 
oifiijjiu from the Hindoos, lie appeals to the ancient Saiiscript records, 
w-hicli tnenlioM a iiiigralion ol certain of the military class termecl 
Chinas^ fiom India to the countries east from Bengal. The stationa- 
ry conJilion of the arts and sciences in China piaves that they have 
m-l originated wiili that people : and many peculiarities of the man- 
ners, institutions, and popular religion of the Chinese, have a nea» 
liiHnity to those of the Hindoos. 



190 MODERN lilSTORY. 

4. The government of China is that of an absolute monarchy. 
The patriarchal system pervades the whole, and hinds all the nieri'- 
bers of this vast empire in the strictest suboniiaiilion. Ev(!r_v tathcf 
is absolute in liis family, and may indict any piinishmei't short ol 
death upon his children. The m mlarin ot' the di.it!-ict is absoiut;\, 
with the power of life and death over all its ni2m')ers: but a capital 
sentence cannot be indicted without th^ emp3roi'"s approbaiion. 
The emperor's power is absolule over all the mandarins, and ever> 
subject of the empire. To reconcile the people to tins despotic 
authority, the sovereign alone is entitled to relieve the wants ot the 
poor, and to compensate public calamities, as well as the niisibrtiines 
of individuals. He is therelbre regarded as the father of his people, 
and even adored as a benevolent divinity. 

5. Another circumstance which conciaates the people to their 
government is, that all honours in China are conferred accord-ng lo 
merit, and that chieHy hterary. The civil m iniiarini. who are the 
magistrates and judges, are appointed to oflice according to their 
measure of knowledge and mL'utal endowment?. No olhce or rank 
is hereditary, but may be aspired to by the meanest of tlie people. 
The penal laws of China are remarkably severe; but their execu- 
tion may be remitted by the emperor. 'The judicial tribunals are 
reguiate'd by a body of written laws of great antiquity, and Ibunded 
on the basis of universal justice and equity. The emperor's opinion 
rarely differs from the sentences of those courts. One tribuuMl 
judges of the qualitications of the mandarins; another regulates the 
morals of the people, and the national manners; a third is the tiibu- 
iial of censors, which levieivs the laws, the conduct of the magi^- 
tr.ites and judges, and even that of the emperor iiims?lf These tri 
bunals are tilled by an equal number of Chinese and iV.ruu-s. 

6. it has been observed that the sciences have been stati'^nary in 
this empire for many ages. They are at this day extremely iow, 
though far beyond the attainments of a barbarous people. The 
language of China seems to oppose the prosecution ol' sperula'ive 
researches. It has no regular inflections, and can with di'hc dly 
express abstract ideas. We have renrarked the ignorance of the 
Chinese in mathematics and astronomy. Of physics they have no 
acquaintance beyond the knowledge of apparent tacts. Tliey nevej 
ascend to principles, nor form theories. 'I'bcir knowledge of n^edi- 
cine is extremely limited, and is blended with the most contoniptilde 
superstition. Of anatomy they know next to nothing; an*! in s ir- 
gery they have never ventured to amputate a limb, nor to reduce a 
fracture. 

7. The state of the useful and elegant arts has been equally sbv- 
tionary as that of the sciences. Many ages ago they had attained' 
a certiun point of advancement, which they have never exceeded. 
The Chinese are said lo have manuliiclured glass ibr 2,UUU years ; 
yet at tbis day i( is inferior in transparency In the Fanopean. and is 
not used in their windows. They are reported to have kno\\n gun- 
powder tVom time immemorial; but they never employed it in arlil 
lery or tire-arms till they wore taught by the Europeans. They are 
said to have invented printing in the age of Julius Caesar, yet ihey 
know not the use of moveable types, and print from blocks of wond. 
When lirst shown <he use of the compass in sailing, they afliiniej 
that they were well acquainted vxiih ii. but I'ound no occasion to em- 
ploy it. The art of painting in China is mere meclianical iu.jtation, 
without grace, expression, or even accuracy of proportions. Of the 



MODERN HISTORY. 191 

rules of perspective they have not the smallest idea. In sculpture, 
as ill llie ligures of thoir idols, the Chinese artists seem to delight in 
distortion and delbrmilv. Their musicus not regulated by any priu- 
ci|)lf^s of science. They have no semiioneST •'•"lI their inslrnnicnts 
are imperfect and nntuiiable. Tlie Chinese architecture has variety, 
li^'htness, ami sometimes elegance ; but has no grandeur, nor sym- 
ni;-iii>-,;d l)eautv. 

8. ill some o'f the arts the Chinese have attained great excellence. 
In China agriculture is carried to'the highest pitch of improvement, 
'i'iiere is not a spot of waste land in tbe whole empire, nor any land 
which is not highly cnltivaled. The empeior himself is the chief 
of the Inishandmeii, and antmaliy holds the plough wilb his own 
hands. Fi'oni the high stale ot agriculture, and the modes of 
ecoiiomi/ing food, is suppoited the astonishing population of ;533 
niiiiions, or 2liO inhabitants to every square mile of the empire. 
'I'iic gardening of tlie Chinese, and their admirable embelli<bment 
ol rural nature, hnve of late been the object of imitation in Europe, 
but with fu' iulcM'or S'lccess. The inanuliicture of porcelain is an 
orijiiial invention of tins people; and tlie Europeans, though ex- 
cehiiig them in the form and ornament of the atensils, have never 
been able to attain the excellence of the material. 

9. The morals of the Clr.iser^e hr.ve furnished a subject both of 
jyr.iiso and ceii=;nre. The books of Confucius are said to contain an 
aiimirahle system of mondily. But the principles of morals have 
Ihfir Ibundaiiun in liuni:ai nadnx', n:n\ niust, in theory, be every- 
where the same. The ir]or;\! viiiues of a people are not to be esti- 
mated Irom the books of tbeir philosophers. It is probable that the 
miiuners of the supcriur chisscs are in China, as elsewhere, much 
intluericed by education and example. Tiie morals of tlie lov\er 
classes, are Siiid to be extremely loose, and their practices most dis- 
lionest. They a.re regulated by no princi[)le but selfish hiterest, 
and re>'lraine(fonly by tlie fear ot" pur.ishment. 

10. The religion of' the Chinese is diilei'ent in t!ie different ranks 
of society. There is no religion of the state. The emperor and 
the higher miuidarins proi'ess the belief of one bui)reme Being, 
C/tflMfi-/:, whom they wershiiJ by prayer and thanksgiving, without 
any niixture of idolatrous practices. They respect the lama of 
Tliiliet ;is the higli-piiest or prophet of this religion. A prevalent 
- 'ci i-! that oCIao-sse, who believe in the power of nv.igic, the agency^ 
cf' sjiiiit*, and Uie dixinalion of I'uture events. A tldrd is the sect of 
/•'y, d. 'lived from India, whose [)i'iests are tlio Bonzes, and whose 
fund, unental doctrine is, tlnit all things rose out ol' notliing, and nmst 
li r.uly r..'lni-ii to nothing; that nil anitu;iis are lirst to undergo a series 
of liMn-nii:;rali'.>ns ; and that as man's chief ha|)iiiness is to approach 
as iiiNir as [,Mi>»il)le to a stale of anniliilaiion in this liie, absolute idle- 
n(>ss )•- more lau(!al;le tiian occunation of any kind. A variety of 
hi.leoiis iJols i- \vois;,ippe(l by this sect. 

11. Tiie Ciiiist; have their sacred hooks entitled A7n^5 ; as the 
Yking. Choiikiiig, &c. ; which, among some good moral precepts, con- 
tain iMiicn ni\-ii'i-y, childish superstition, and absurdity. These are 
cl'i -ily resorted to lor the dnining of future events, which seems the 
ulliituttuin ol' research among the Cbinese philosophers The ohser 
vaiion of the licavenly bodies is made for that purpose alone. The 
changes of weathoi', the perform;. ace or omission of ceiMain cere- 
monies, the occurrence of certain events in particular limes and 
places, are all believed to have their intluence on luiunty, and are 



192 MODERN HISTORY. 

(herefore carefully observed and' recorded. The rnles by which 
those omens are iritprj)reted are *ai(l to l)ave been |irescril;< d liy the 
great Conl'iicins, the lather ol" the Chinese pliilusojihy, y()u years be- 
Ibre the christian era. 

12. We conclude, on the whole, that the Chinese are a very re- 
markahle people; that their govetnmenf, laws, policy, and kn()v\ 1- 
edge of the arts and sciences, exhil.it taujiicslioiialile prools el" ^w/.A 
antiquity and early civilization; that the exlraordi.iary measure of 
duration assigned to their empire hy some modern writejs resis on 
no solid prools ; that their government, laws, manners, arts, and 
scientitic attainments, are not deserxing ol" tliat superlative pnnse 
wliich has been bestowed on them. 



SECTION L. 

M. DAILLY^S THEORY OF THE ORIGI.X OF THE SCIE.N'CF.S 
AMONG THE NATIONS OF INDIA. 

1. TnK striking rescml)lance in many points of character between 
the Chinese and the ancient I'gyptians, has led to, the conjerlurc, 
either that they were originally the same people, one i)eiiig a col- 
ony of the other, or have had, at srme remote period, such inter- 
course, eilher by conquest or by "omnicrce, as to occasion a recipro- 
cal communication of manners and the knowledge ofarts and sciences. 
i\T. de Mairan has ren^arked the folloiviug points of similarity. 'J'he 
Egyp.tians and the Cbines(> had tiie sam(; permanence ol" mannei-s, 
and abhorrence of iniiovalions ; they were alike remarkat)lt: iiu- ihe 
respect entertained by children to their parents ; they were equally 
averse to war; they bad the siuiie general superticial knowledge o't' 
fne arts and sciences, wilbout the aliiily lo make great attainments; 
they both, in the most ancient times, used biereglyphics ; the Egyp- 
tians had a si^l-mn lestival, called l\\v fiaf--. of the iisli's ; the Chinese 
have thej^«5/ (if lite lanieras; the leatures ofihe Chinese are said to 
resemble the ancient Egyptian statues ; certain characters engraven 
on an Egyptian bust of l=is were found to belong to the Chinese lan- 
guage. 

2. M. Railly has taken a wider range of observation, and from n 
review c-^ the manners, customs, op-ini'->ns, and attainments of llie 
Indians, Persians, Chinese, Chaldeans, and Egy})tians, has discovered 
many circumstances of similarity l:etv\een all ihose nations, equally 
remarkable as the foregoing. He has thence formed the singular 
hypothesis, that the knowledge conmion to all those nations has been 
derived from the same original source, a most ancient and highly 
Cultivated people of Asia, of which every trace is now extinct. If we 
find, says he, in the scattered huts of peasants, fragments interspersed 
of sculptured columns, we conclude for certain that they are tiot the 
work of the rude peasants who reared those huts, l)ut that they an? 
the remains of a magnilicent building, the work of able architectf , 
timugh we discover no other traces of the existence of that building, 
and caimot ascertain its precise situation. 

?>. The sciences and arts of the Chinese have been stationiry lor 
2,0<X) years. The people seem never to have availed tbemsciveri 
of the lights of their ancestors. They are like the inhabitants of a 
country recently discovered by a polished people, who have taught 



MODERN HISTORY. 193 

them some of their arts, and left their instruments among ihem. 
The knowledge which they possess, seems to have been imported, 
and not of original growth, for it has never been progressive. 

4. The Chaldeans were an enlightened people at the commence- 
ment of the Babylonish empire, 2,000 years before the Christian era. 
They were astronomers, and understood the revolutions of the ce- 
lestial bodies. The Chaldeans were probably the remains of this 
indent people. The Bramins of India believe in the unity of God, 
snd the immortality of the soul ; but with these sublime tenets they 
intermix childish absurdities. They derived the former from wise 
irislructers ; the latter were the fruit of their own ignorance. The 
Sanscrit, a copious and elegant language, and the vehicle of all the 
Indian knowledge and philosophy, has been a dead tongue for thou- 
sands of years, and is intelligible only to a few of the Bramins. It 
was probably the language of that great ancient people. 

5. The coincidence or similarity of customs concurs to establish 
the belief of an original nation. The custom of libation was com- 
mon to the Tartars and Chinese, and to the Greeks and Romans. 
AH the Asiatic nations had festivals of the nature of the Roman satur- 
1-alia. The tradition of the deluge is diffused among all those nations. ■ 
'i he tradition of (he giants attacking heaven is equally general. 
The doctrine of the metempsychosis was common to the Egyptians, 
Greeks, Indians, Persians, Tartarians, and Chinese. The religion of 
all those nations is founded on the profound but erroneous doctrine 
of the two principles, a universal soul pervading all nature, and 
inert matter on which it acts. A conformity in a true doctrine is no 
proof of mutual communication or concert ; but it is ingeniously re- 
marked, that a conformity in a false doctrine comes very near to such 
a proof 

6. The Egyptians, Chaldeans, Indians, Persians, and Chinese, all 
pl;iced their temples fronting the east, to receive the first rays of the 
sun. Hence the worship of the sun has been the religion of the an- 
cient people from which these are descended. All these nations had 
a cycle, or period of sixty years, for regulating their chronology. 
They all divided the circle into 360 degrees; the zodiac into twelve 
pigns; and the week into seven days. The Chinese, Indians, and 
Egyptians designed the seven days ot the week by the names of (he 
*even planets ranged in the same order. The long measures of tlie 
indent nations had all one common origin. 

7. These singular coincidences, says M. Bailly, can be exclaincd 
-^nly upon three supposKions : 1, that there was a free communica- 
(ioa between all those ancient nations ; 2, that those circumstances 
^f coincidence are so founded in human nature, that the most un- 
connected nations could not fail to hit upon them ; or, 3, that they 
have been all derived from a common source. He rejects the two 
(ormer suppositions, as contrary, in his opinion, to foot, and ado])ts 
the last. 

8. The precise situation of tliis great ancient people, M. Bailly docs 
not pretend to iix with certainty ; but oilers probable reasons lor 
conjecturing that it was about the 49th or 50th degree of north lati- 
tude, in the southern regions of Siberia. Many "of the European 
find Asiatic nations attribute their origin to (hat quarter, which thence 
appears to have been extremely populous. Nitre, a production 
from animal substances, is more abundant (here than in any o(her 
region. The observations of the rising of the stars, collected by 
Ptolemy, must have been made in a climate vvhere the longest day 

R 25 



194 MODERN HISTORY. 

was sixteen hours, which corresponds to the latitude of 50 degrees. 
No European nation in that latitude understood astronomy in those 
early periods. The veneration of the Indians and Chinese for the 
Lama of Thibet is a proof that the religion of those nations originat- 
ed in that quarter. 

9. But does that region exhibit any traces of having been ever 
inhabited by a polished people ? Here the theory of M. Bailly seems 
to be least supported by proof He observes, that ancient mines 
have been discovered in those parts of Siberia, which have been 
WTOugbt to great extent in a period beyond all record or tradition, 
that ancient sepulchres have been found, in which there were orna- 
ments of gold of skilful workmanship ; but the tacts specilied are so 
few as to warrant no positive inference. 

10. This theory is an amusing specimen of the author's ingenu- 
ity ; but it has not the force to draw our assent to liis conclusions. 
We have noticed it as specifying many curious lacts relative to tlic 
manners and attainments of the ancient nations, and as furnishing 
strong evidence of the common origin of mankind. The nations 
above mentioned, though many of them remote from one another, 
.%vere all connected, as links ot a chain, bj' proximity ; whence it is 
easy to conceive that knowledge should diverge from a centre 'j 
a very distant circumterence. M. Bailly has given no reasonaide 
ground for tixing tiiat centre in the position which he has assigned 
to it. 

SECTION LI. 

REIGN OF PHILIP II. OF SPAIN. REVOLUTION OF THE 
NETHERLANDS, AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REPUBLIC 
OF HOLLAND. 

1. Afit.r a short survey of the Asiatic kingdoms, we return tc the 
history of Eurojie in the sixteenth century. 

In the time ot Philip II., the successor of Charles V.. the balance 
of power in Europe was sustained by Spain, France, England, and 
Germany, all at this time highly tlourishing and respectable, either 
from llie talents of their sovereigns, or their internal strength. Eliz- 
abeth, Henry 11., and Philip II., were all acute and able politicians; 
thougU the policy of Philip partook more of selHsh craft, and had 
less of the manly and heroic, than that ot either of his rival mon- 
archs. Philip nas at this time sovereign of Spain, the Two Sicilies, 
Milan, and the Netherlands. He had likewise, for a kw years, the 
po\^er of England at his command, by his marriage with Mary, the 
elder sister and predecessor of Ehzabeth. 

2. Pope Paul IV^, jealous of the power of Philip, formed an alli- 
ance with Henry U. of France to deprive the Spaniards of Milan 
and the Two Sicilies. Phi-lip, with the aid of the English, defeated 
the French at St. Quintin in Picardy, and hoped from this signal vic- 
tory, to force the allies into a peace ; but the duke of Guise recov- 
ered the spirits of the French, l)y the taking of Calais from the Eng- 
lish, winch they had now possessed for two hundred years. Anoth- 
er great victory, however, obtained by Philip near Gravelims, 
brought on the treaty of Catteau-Cambresis in 1,559, by which the 
French surrendered to Spain no less than eighty-nine fortihed towns 
In the Low Countries and in Italy. 



MODERN HISTORY. 195 

3. Philip, now at ease from foreign disturbances, began to be dis- 
quieted on tlie score of religion. An intolerant bigot hy nature, he 
resolved to extirpate every species of heresy Irom his dominions. 
The Netherlands, an assemblage of separate states, were all subject 
to Philip, under various titles ; and he had conferred the government 
of Holland, Zealand, Friesland, and Utrecht, on William, prince of 
Orange, a count of the German empire. The Lutheran and Calvin 
istic opinions had made great progress in those quarters ; and Philip, 
determining to repress them, established the inquisition with plenary 
powers, created new bishops, and prepared to abrogate the anci<;nt 
liuvs, and give the provinces a new political inslitulion. These inno- 
vations created alarm and tumult; and the duke of Alva was sent into 
Flanders to enforce implicit submission. 

4. The inquisition began its bloody work, and many of the prin- 
cipal nobilfty of the provinces were its victims. The minds ot the 
people were completely ali'^nated, and a chief was only wanting lo 
give union to their measures. The prince ot Orange, who was 
under se.itence of the inquisition, found no dilhculty to raise an army; 
and liavJng easily reduced some of the most important garrisons, 
lie was proclaimed stadtholder of Holland and Zealand in 1,570. 
Eighteen thousand persons perished by the hands of the executioner 
in the coui-se of the duke ot Alva's government, which was of five 
years" duration. His place was supplied by Requesens, a man of hu- 
manity, but bound to obey his inhuman master, who, on the death of 
Rt;quesens, sent his own brother don John of Austria, to endeavour 
to regam the revolted states ; but the attempt was fruitless. The 
whole seventeen provinces had sutfei'ed alike from the tyranny of 
iheir sovereign; but jparticular jealousies prevented a general union, 
and only seven of them asserted their independence, by a solemn 
treaty formed at Utrecht, on the 23d of January, 1,579; by which it 
was agreed that they should defend their liberties as one united 
republic ; that they should jointly determine in matters of peace and 
war, establish a general legislative authority, and maintain a libeity 
of conscience in matters of religion. These seven united provinces 
are, Guelderland, Holland, Zealand, Friesland, Utrecht, Overyssol, 
and Groningen. William prince of Orange was declared their chief 
magistrate, geneitil, and aclmiral, by the title of Studtkolder. 

5. Philip vented his indignation by a proscription of the prince of 
Orange, offering 25,000 crowns for hi? head ; and he compassed his 
revenge ; for this illustrious man was cut off by an assassin in 1,584. 
His son Maurice was elected stadthoKIer in his room, and sustained 
his important office with great courage and ability. With a slender 
aid from Elizabeth of England, who delighted to traverse the plans of 
Philip, this infant commonwealth accomplished and secured its inde- 
pendence, which it maintained till its recent subjugation 

6. The other ten provinces, whose discontents were expressed 
only by murmur and complaint, were soothed by a new charter from 
Phihp confirming their privileges; while at the same time he took 
every possible measure to prevent any attempt on their part to 
Uirow olT the yoke. 



196 irtODERN HlbTORY. 



SECTION LIl. 



OF THE CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED 

PROVINCES. 

1. The treaty of confederation of the Seven United Provinces, 
framed in 1,679, and solemnly renewed in 1,583, is declared to be^ 
by its nature, indissoluble. Each province thereby preserved its 
own laws, magistrates, sovereignty, and independence. They form, 
however, one body politic, having renounced the right of making 
separate alUances or treaties, and established a general council, wilh 
power of assembling the states, and regulating the common afiairs ot 
the republic. The assembly of the states-general was originally held 
only twice a year, but became afterwards a perpetual council. 

2. In all matters which regard not the general interest of the na- 
tion, each of the states or provinces is in itself a republic, governed 
by its own laws and magistrates, and possessing a supreme legislative 
authority. The deputies from each of the towns form the council of 
the province, in which is vested its separate government ; and these 
deputies are regulated by the instructions of their constituents. The 
votes of the majority of deputies decide in the provincial council in 
all matters which regard not the general interest of the nation 

3. The great council of the states-general always met in assembly 
at the Hague, and is composed of the deputies from the seven prov- 
inces, of which Holland sends three, Zealand and Utrecht two, and 
the others one ; each deputy being regulated by the council of his 
province. A majority of voices is here deci«ive, unless in the great 
questions of peace, war, and alliance, in which unanimity is requisite. 
The disadvantage of this constitution is the delay and ditficulty in 
the execution ot public measures. All the towns and all the nobles 
of a province must deliberate and instruct their deputy, betbre the 
states-general can take the matter under consideration. This great 
defect is partly corrected by the power and intiuence of the stadt- 
holder. 

4. The stadtholder is commander in chief of the sea and land 
forces, and disposes ot all the military employments. He presides 
over all the coiirts of justice, and has the power of pardoning crimes. 
He appoints the magistrates of the towns, from a list made by them- 
selves ; receives and names ambassadors, and is charged with the ex- 
ecution of the laws. He is supreme arbiter in all differences between 
the provinces, cities, or other members of the state. 

5. William, the first stadtholder, did not abuse these high powers ; 
nor did his successors, Maurice and Henry-Frederick. But under 
VViHiam II. the states became jealous of an exorbitant authority in 
their chief magistrate, and on his death the otfice was for some time 
abolished. In that interval the republic was almost annihilated by 
the arms of Lewis XIV. ; and, sensible of their error, they restored 
the office of stadtholder in the person of William III., who retrieved 
the fortunes and honour of his country. In gratitude for his services, 
the dignity was made hereditary in his family, a solecism in the gov 
emment of a republic. On the death of William without issue, the 
office was once more abolished for twenty years, when it was again 
restored, declared hereditary in the family of Orange, and descendi- 
ble even to the i£«ue of a daughter. The only restrictioos are, that 



MODERN HISTORY. 197 

the succeeding prince shall be of the protestant religion, and neither 
king nor elector of the German empire. 



SECTION LIII. 
REIGN ON PHILIP 11. CONTINUED. 

1 . The loss of the Netherlands was in some degree compensated 
to Philip 11. by the acquisition of the kingdom of Port jgal. Muley 
Slahomet, king of Fez and Morocco, dethroned by his uncle Muley 
Moluc, solicited the aidofdoa Sebastian king of Portugal to regain 
his throne. Sebastian landed with an army in Africa, but was de- 
feated ty the Moors and slain; and the contending Moorish princes 
peiished in the same engagement. Sebastian was succeeded by his 
grand-uncle don Henry, who died after a reign of two years. The 
competitors for the crown vvt re don Antonio prior of Crato, and 
Philip II., paternal arv.i maternal uncles of the last sovereign. Philip 
defeated his rital in a decisive engagement at sea, and, without fur- 
ther opposition, took possession ot the throne of Portugal, 1,580. 

2. Elizabeth of England had warmly espoused the cause of the 
revolted Netherlands, and her admiral sir Francis Drake had taken 
some of the Spanish settlements in America. To avenge these in- 
juries, the invincible armada, of 150 ships of war, 27,000 men, and 
3,000 pieces of cannon, was equipped by Philip for the invasion of 
England. The English lleet, of 108 ships, attacked them in the 
night, and burnt and destroyed a great part of the squadron. A 
storm, which drove them on the rocks and sands of Zealand, com- 
pleted their discomfiture, and only 50 sliattered vessels, with 6,000 
men returned to Spain, 1,588. 

3. The restless spirit of Philip II. was engaged at the same time in 
the reduction of the Netherlands, the project for the invasion^ of 
England, and the dismembering of the kingdom of France. The 
last scheme was as ineffectual as the two former. It was defeated at 
once by the conversion of Henry IV- to the catholic religion. The 
policy of Philip had nothing in' it great or generous. His restless 
ambition was fitted to embroil Europe ; but he had not the judgment 
to turn the distresses which he occasioned to hh own advantage. 
In his own kingdoms, as in his domestic life, he was a gloomy and in- 
human tyrant. Yet, from the variety and magnitude of his designs, 
the power by which they wore supported, and the splendour of his 
dominion, the character of Spain was high and respectable in the 
scale of the nations of Europe. 



SECTION LIV. 

STATE OF FRANCE IN THE END OF THE SIXTEENTH CEN- 
TURY; UNDER HENRY II., FRANCIS II., CHARLES IX., HENRY 
III., AND HENRY IV- 

1. The reformed religion had made the greater profress in 
France from the impolitic persecution which H sustamod from 
Henry II., the son and successor of Francis I., who, though he aided 
the protestants of Germany in resisting the despotism of Charles V.. 
showed no mercv to tl>eir brethren in his own kingdom. 



198 MODERN HISTORY. 

2. On the death of Henry II. the conspiracy of Atnbolse was plan 
ned by the prince of Conde, for the destruction of the duke of Guise, 
who ruled the Jtingdom under Francis II., and to whose intolerance 
and cruelty the protestants attributed all their calamities. Guise 
owed his ascendancy chiefly to the marriage of his niece, Mary 
queen of Scots with the young monarch ; and the detection of this 
conspiracy, the massacre of its principal leaders, and the barbarous 
punishment ol'all who partook in it, while they confirmed his power, 
served only to increase the rancour of the contending parties. 

3. Francis II. died after a reign of one year, 1,560, and was suc- 
ceeded by his brother Charles IX., a boy of ten years of age. The 
queen-mother, Catharine de Medicis, who had no other principle but 
the love of power, was equally jealous of the influence of the 
Condes and the Guises. An ecclesiastical assembly, held by her de 
sire at Foissy, gave toleration to the protestants to exercise their 
worship through all France, without the walls of the towns. The 
zeal or the imprudence of the duke of Guise infringed this ordinance, 
and both parties flew to arms. The admiral Coligni commanded the 
troops of the protestant«, who were aided by 10,000 Germans from 
the Palatinate. Philip of Spain, to increase the disorders, sent an 
army, to the aid of the catholics. 

4. The horrors of civil war were aggravated by murders and 
assassinations. The duke of Guise was the victim of the Irantic zeal 
of an enthusiast. After many desperate engagements, with various 
success, a treacherous peace was agreed to by the catholics; and 
Coligni, with the chiefs of the prolestant party, were invited to 
court, and received by the queen-mother and her son with the most 
extraordinary marks of favour: among the rest Henry of Navarre, 
to whom the' young nrionarch had given his sister in marriage. Such 
w?re the preparatives to the infernal massacre of St. Bartholomew. 
On the night of the 23d of August, 1,572, at the ringing of the matin 
bell, the catholics made a general massacre of all the protestants 
throughout the kingdom of France. Charles IX., a monster of 
cruelty assisted in the murder of his own subjects. 

5. Amid those horrors Henry duke of Anjou, brother of Charles 
IX., was elected king of Poland ; but had scarcely taken possession 
of his throne, when he was called to that of France by the death 
of its execrable sovereign, 1,57 I. The weakness of the new mon 
arch, Henrv HI., was untit to compose the disordei-s of the kingdom. 
Equally bigoted and profligate, he became the scorn of his subjects, 
and the dupe of the contending factions. 

6. The protestant party was now supported by the prince of 
Conde and young Henry of Navarre, descended from Robert of 
Bourbon, a younger son of Lewis IX. The duke of Alencon, the 
king's brother, had likewise joined their party. The catholics, to 
accumulate their strength, formed a bond of union, termed the lea^uc^ 
nominally for delence of the state and its religion, but in reality for 
usurping all the powers of government, and suppressing the protes- 
tant faith. Of this dangerous association Henry 111., with the weakest 
policy, declared himself the head, and thus the avowed enemy of 
one half of his subjects. He saw his error when too late, and. 
■dreading the designs of the duke of Guise, and his brother the cardinal 
of Lorraine, whose authority had superseded his own, he basely rid 
himself of his fears by procuring their assassination. This vicious 
Md contemptible tyrant, after a reign of fifteen years, was assassinate * 



MODERPi H1S1X)RY. 19 

by J aqnes Clement, a jacobin monk, from the frenzy of fanaticism, 

1,5S9. 

7. The next heir of the crown was Henry of Navarre, who had 
been educated a protestant by bis mother, the daughter of Henry 
d'Albert iiingof JNavarre. At the age of sixteen he had beendechired 
head of tlie party of the Huguenots ; his uncle the prince of Conde 
and the admiral Coiigni acting as bis HeutenanLs. His tirst miUtary 
enterprises were unsuccessful. Invited to Paris, at tlie peace ol 
1,572, to marry the sister of Charles IX., he narrowly escaped from 
the massacre of St. Bartholomew, but remained three years a prison- 
er. On the death of Charles he again took the field against the 
army of the league, which he defeated in the battle or Coutras, 
1,.587, and still more signally in that of Arques, 1,589. After the 
death of Henry III., he won the celebrated battle of Ivry ; and, 
being acknowledged sovereign of France by all but the party of the 
league, then in possession of Paris, he laid siege to the city, which 
must have capitulated if Philip II. had not sent succours. Religion was 
the sole cause of the disunion of France, and the only obstacle to 
the acknowledgment of Henry's title by, the greater part of his sub- 
jects. By the earnest persuasion of Kosni (duke of Sully), a protes- 
tant, Henry was prevailed on to declare himself a catliolic. He ab- 
jured at St. Denis, and was crowned king at Chartres, 1,594. He 
soon after tooK possession of Paris ; but it took him several years, 
both of war and negotiation, before he gained the whole of his king- 
dom, exhausted as it was, and ruined by civil discord. 

8. The subsequent life of this excellent prince was devoted to the 
reparation of those misfortunes. After forcing Philip 11. to conclude 
the advantageous peace of Vervins, 1,598, his whole attention wag 
bestowed on the improvement of his kingdom, by reforming its laws, 
regulating its finances, encouraging agriculture and manufactures, 
enlarging and embellishing the cities, and finally by successfully 
reconciling tne partisans of the contending religions. In all his bene- 
ficial schemes, he found an able assistant in his minister the duke of 
Sully, who has beautifully depicted the life and character of his mas- 
ter. In his memoirs we see not only the great designs, but the pri- 
vate virtues, the engaging and amiable manners of this illustrious 
man, who while he was the arbiter of the contending powers ol 
Kurope, was the indulgent father of a happy people. 

9. The period of the splendour and happiness of France was ol 
short duration. Henry IV., worthy to be immortal, was assassinated 
at the age of fifty-seven. May 4, 1,610, by Ravaillac, an insane fanat- 
ic. At the time of his death, he meditated the great project of a 
perpetual peace between the states of Europe, a design higbly char- 
acteristic of the benevolent mind of its author. But the weaknesses ol 
mankind, and the impossibility of reasoning with nations as with wise 
individuals, must certainly have rendered this design impracticable at 
that period. 



SECTION LV. 

HISTORY OF ENGLAND AND OF SCOTLAND IN THE REIGNS 
OF ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 

1. EuzABETH, daughter of Henry VIII., by Anna Bullen, succeeded 
to the throne on the death of her sister Mary, 1,558; and England 



2U0 MODERN HISTORY. 

attained a high degree of splendour, under the rule of this great an^ 
politic princess, whose talents enabled her to pursue the true interests 
ol her people, while her vigorous and intrepid mind led her to take 
an impoitant part in maintaining the balance of power in Europe. 
While she encouraged at home every useful art and manufacture, 
she colonized a great part of North America, supported the infant 
republic of Holland against its tyrannical enemy, humbled the pride 
of Spain in the defeat of its invincible arnvada, and assisted Henry IV. 
in the recovery of his kuigdom. It was her fortune to have the aid 
of most able ministers, and her merit to place her confidence in their 
counsels. 

2. If Elizabeth had been equally endowed with the virtues of the 
heart as with the powers of the mind, she would have shone the 
most illustrious character in the annals of modem Europe. Her 
conduct to her cousin Mary queen of Scots has fixed an indelible 
stain on her character. Mary, the daughter of James V., and great 
grand-daughter of Heury VII., educated in France, and married, 
when very young, to the dauphin, afterwards Francis II., had im- 
prudently assumed the arms and title of queen of England, by the 
persuasion of her maternal uncles the Guises. The pretence was 
the illegitimacy of Elizabeth, declared by Henry VIII., on his divorce 
from Anna Bullen. This false step laid the foundation of all the 
miseries of the queen of Scots. 

3. The reformation was at this time going forward in Scotland 
with the most ardent zeal. The car.a of Argyle, Morton, Glencairn, 
and others, its chief promoters, had, by their own authority, suppress- 
ed the worship of the mass over a great pa-rt of th'e kingdomu 
The catholic bishops, by an ill-judged persecution of the reformers, 
greatly increased the number of tlieir proselytes. They began to 
muster their strength, and, headed i)y .John Knox, a disciple oT Cal- 
vin, a virtuous man, but of" the most furious and intemperate zeal, 
threw down the altars and images, expelled the priests, and demol- 
ished the churches and monasteries. The protestants were now 
acting in arms, and in open defiance of government ; and the queen 
mother, Mary of Guise, atteinpfed, by the aid of French troops, to 
reduce her subjects to submission. They applied for aid to Elizabeth 
the protestant queen of England, who sent an arm\' and a fleet to their 
assij^tiuice. The death of the queen-mother was followed by a capU- 
ulalion, by which it was agreed that the French should evacuate 
Scotland, and that Mary should renounce all pretension to the crown of 
England. The protestant religion, under presbyterian forms, was 
now established in the room of the catholic. 

5. In this situation of Scotland, Mary, at the age of eighteen, on 
the death of her mother, and of her husband Francis II., returned 
to her hereditary kingdom; having fortunately escaped an English 
fleet, which Elizabeth had despatched to take her prisoner on her 
p.issage. Her misfortunes began from that hour. Her protestant 
subjects regarded their catholic queen with abhorrence, and looked 
up to her enemy Elizabeth as their support and defender. Tlmt 
artful princess had secured to her interest the very men on whom 
the unsuspecting Mary placed her utmost confidence, her bastard 
brother the earl of Murray, the earl of Morton, and secretary Leth 
ington. The views of Murray aimed at nothing less than his sister's 
crown, and the obstacles which opposed his criminal ambition served 
...only to render his attempts more daring and flagitious. 

5. The Diarriage of iVlary with her cousin lora Darnley, son of th» 



MODERN HISTORY. 201 

earl of Lennox, who stood in the same relation to Elizabeth, was not 
agreeable to that princess. Encouraged by Elizabeth's ministers, 
Randolph and Cecil, Murray formed a conspiracy to seize and impris- 
on Mary, to put to death her husband, and usurp the government; 
and on Ihe detection of his designs, attempted to support Ihem by 
open rebtllion. Defeated, exiled, pardoned, and loaded with benefits 
by his injured sovereign, he persevered in the same atrocious pur- 
poses, till he at length accomplished them. 

6. The spouse ot Mary had incurred her resentment by his vices 
and follies. Taking advantage of the weakness of his mind, Mur- 
ray, Morton, and Lethington, had rendered him jealous of the par- 
tiality of Mary for her foreign secretary, the aged Rizzio, and en- 
gaged him in the borbarous act of murdering this ill-fated wretch 
at the feet of the queen, to whose garments he clung fox protection^ 
The purpose of this shocking outrage was to procure the abortion 
of Mary, then big with child, and possibly her death ; or, if shfe 
fhould survive, to alienate completely her affections from her hus- 
band, and thus to render her suspected of the design which they 
had projected of cutting him off by assassination. In the latter pur- 
pose they succeeded. The house which Darnley inhabited was blown 
up by gunpowder: his body was found strangled near the place, and 
a report immediately prevailed, that Mary had been accessory to his 
min-der. 

7. A most imprudent step, to which she was conducted by the 
same bantl of traitors, gave countenance to this suspicion. At the 
earnest recommendation of Morton and some of her chief nobility^ 
she married the earl of Bothwell, a man openly stigmatized as one 
of the murderers of her husband. He had, it is true, been absolved 
^n trial for that crime, and had by force made himself master of her 
person. The plans of Murray and his associates, successful to the 
utmost of their wishes, were now ripe tor consummation. On the 

f)retext of the queen's guilt of murder and adultery, she was confined 
>y Murray in the castle of Lochleven, and there compelled to resigrt 
her crown into the handsof herun ratural brother, who was to govers 
the kingdom as regent during the minority of her infant son, now 

E reclaimed king by the title of James VI., 1,567. Bothwell escaped 
eyond sea, and died in Denmark. 

3. A great part of the nation reprobated those infamous proceed- 
ings. Mary escaped from her confinement, and at the head of an 
army gave battle to the rebels at Langside ; Init, being defeated, she 
fled for shelter to the north of England. Elizabeth, who had secretly 
encouraged all the machinations of her enemies, had now gained a 
great object of her ambition ; she had in her hands a hated rival, and, 
by her support of Murray and his party, the absolute command of 
the kingdom of Scotland. Yet policy required sonfe show of 
friendship and humanity to the queen of Scots, who claimed, as a 
suppliant, her protection and aid. She professed her desire to do 
her justice, but first required that she should clear herself of the 
crimes alleged agaiixst her. To this Mary agreed, with the intrepid- 
ity of conscious innocence. In a conference held for that purpose, 
Murray openly stood forth as the accuser of his sister and queen^ 
appealing to certain letters said to have been written by her to Both* 
well, plainly intimating her guilt. Copies of these letters were pro» 
duced. Mary demanded the originals, boldly declaring them to be 
the forgeries of her enemies ; but they were never produced. She 
i^ptorted on Murray and Morton the charge of Darnley's murder. 



«02 MODERN HISTORY. 

and the conference was broken off at the command oi the queen <rf 
England, who detained Mary in close imprisonment. 

9. The ungenerous policy of Elizabeth was condemned by her 
own subjects. The duke of Norfolk, the first of her nobility, and, 
though a protestant, favoured by the catholic party in England, 
secretly projected to marry the queen of Scots. The discovery of 
his views having given alarm to Elizabeth, brought that ill-fated 
nobleman to the block, and hastened the doom of the unfortunate 
Mary. Worn out with the miseries of her confinement, she private- 
ly solicited the aid of foreign princes for her deliverance. Her 
catise was espoused by all the catholics of England ; and some of the 
most intemperate of these had formed a plot to deliver her from 
captivity, and to place her on the throne, by the murder of Eliza 
beth. rhis dangerous conspiracy was discovered, and its authors 
deservedly suffered death. The schemes of Mary for her own de- 
liverance were held presumptive of her acquiescence in the whole of 
the plot. Though an independent sovereign, she was brought to 
trial before a foreign tribunal which had already decreed her fate ; 
and, being condemned to suffer death, she was beheaded at Fother- 
ingay castle, 1,587, in the forty-fifth year of her age, and the nine 
teenth of her captivity in England. Previously to this event, Murray 
had fallen the victim of the private revenge of a gentleman whom he 
had injured ; Lethington poisoned himself in prison, to escape the 
sentence of his enemies ; and Morton, some time regent of the king- 
dom, was afterwards tried and suflisred death for his concern in the 
murder of Darnley. 

10. We have mentioned the formidable preparations of Philip II. 
for the invasion of England, and their disastrous issue in the total 
destruction of the invincible armada. The English, in their turn, 
made descents on the Spanish coasts ; and the glory of the nation 
was nobly sustained by those great admirals, Raleigh, Howard. 
Drake, Cavendish, and Hawkins, The earl of Essex distinguishea 
himself in those expeditions, and won the favour of Elizabeth, both 
by his prowess and personal acc«. mplishments. The death of Lei- 
cester, her former favourite, and of her minister Burleigh left Essex 
unrivalled in her affections, and of chief authority in the direction of 
her councils. Haughty, and impatient of control, he disgusted the 
nobles ; and his failure in quelling a rebellion in Ireland gave them 
ground to undermine him in the favour of his sovereign. In the mad- 
xiess of inordinate ambition, he proposed to possess himself of the 
person of the queen, and compel her to remove his enemies, and 
acquiesce in all his measures. This treasonable enterprise brought 
him to the scaffold, 1,600. 

1 1 . From that time Elizabeth tell mto profound melancholy, and soon 
after died in the seventieth year of her age, 1,603, having named for 
her successor James VI. of Scotland. Her talents were great, and 
the firmness of her mirnd was unequallud ; but her private char- 
acter was tarnished by cruelty, hypocrisy, and an insatiable desire 
of admiration. Her maxims of government were despotic, and she 
had little regard for the liberties of her people, or the privileges of 
her parliaments, to whom she never allowed the liberty of disputing 
her commands. The actual government of England in those days 
was little different from an absolute monarchy. 



1^: MODERN HISTORY. 208 



SECTION LVI. 

HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN IN THE REIGNS OF JAMES I. 
AND CHARLES I 

1. James VI. of Scotland succeeded by hereditary right to the 
throne of England, thus uniting the two crowns ; a prince of consid- 
erable learning and talents, but of little vigour of mind or political 
energy. He became unpopular from his notions of an uncontrollable 
prerogative, to which unwisely proclaiming his title, he provoked 
his suTrjects to question it. The current of public opinion was now 
strongly turned to an extension of the rights of the subject, and to a 
retrenchment of the powers of tiie crown ; and during this reign the 
seeds were sown of that spirit of resistance on the part of the peo- 
ple, which was destined in the next to overturn the constitution. 

2. Domestic events were such as chietiy distinguished the reign 
of James I. A conspiracy was discovered in 1,6U3 for subverting 
the government, and placing the king's cousin, Arabella Stuart, on 
the throne, in which the lords Cobham and Grey, and Sir Walter Ra- 
leigh were principally concerned. The two former were pardoned, 
and Raleigh was condemneil, but reprieved. On the ground of his 
infringement of the peace with Spain, by unwarrantably attacking 
one of her American settlements, he was beheaded on his former 
(sentence, after an interval of tifteen years. 

3. Another conspiracy ibllowed, of a still more dangerous nature, 
the gunpowder treason ; a plot of the catholics to destroy at one 
blow the king and the whole body of the parliament, 1,604. It was 
discovered from a circumstance of private friendship, on the very 
eve of its accomplishment; and the principal conspirators suffered 
capital punishment. The public indignation now raged against the 
catholics ; and the humanity of James, which sought to mitigate this 
fury, was as ungenerously as absurdly construed into a favour which 
he entertained for their religious principles. 

4. It was a peculiar weakness of the king to attach himself to 
undeserving favourites. Such was Carre earlof Somei-set, who had 
no other recommendation but a handsome person, and who, after 
several years' exercise of all the insolence of power, fell into dis- 
grace, on conviction of his concern in an infamous murder. His 
place was supplied by VillierSj afterwards duke oi" Buckingham, a 
man devoid of every talent ol a minister and odious to all ranks 
of the state. He planned a journey of Charles prince of Wales into 
Spain to court the infanta, and by his folly and insolence frustrated 
the treaty on the brink of its conclusion. 

5. Elizabeth, the daughter of James, was married to the protestant 
elfctor Palatine, who was dispossessed of his electorate by the empe- 
ror Ferdinand II., (or imprudently accepting the crown of Bohemia, 
till then an appanage of the empire. James was urged by parlia- 
ment to a war in defence of his son-in-law, which touched the nation 
both as a point of honour and as the cause of the protestant interest. 
He sent a feeble armament, which was of no service, the only mili- 
tary enterprise of his reign. His favourite project was a complete 
union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland ; a measure which, 
however beneficial, the mutual prejudices of the two nations were as 



804 MODERN HISTORY. 

yet too violeiit to bear. As h preparatory stepj the episcopal hk* 
jrarcliy was introduced into Scotland ; but this served only ns thd 
incentive of future commotions. James I. died in 1625, in the 59th 
.year of his age, and the 2'id of his reign over England. 

6. On an impartial estimate of the character of the succeeding 
monarch, Charles I., it may be allowed, that this unfortunate prince 
would have reigned with high popularity, if the nation in his reign 
nad entertained the same opinions of the regal prerogative of the 
powers of parliament, and of the liberty of the subject, which had 
prevailed for the two preceding centuries. But it was his lot to 
mount the throne at that critical period when the public opinion had 
undergone an entire revolution on those topics; and, with many 
excellent endowments both of head and heart, he wanted that po- 
litical prudence which should have taught him to yield to the ne- 
cessity of the times. 

7. Charles was oftendcd with his first parliament, on their refusal 
of adequate supplies for the war in support of his brother-in-law, the 
elector Palatine. Engaged to his allies, the king, dissolving the par- 
liament, issued warrants for borrowing money of the subject, A new 
parliament was found equally uncomplying, and evinced its jealousy 
of thekingby theimpeachment of his minister, Buckingham. Charles 
avenged the insult by imprisoning two members of the house of com- 
mons. A dissension thus begun was continually aggravated by new 
causes of oftence. The levying of money from the subject was en- 
forced by billeting soldiers on those who refused to lend to the crown ; 
and some were even imj)risoned on that account. A war was under- 
taken against France, by Buckingham'sinstigation, a sufficient cause 
cf its unpopularity ; and it ended in a fruitless attempt on Rochelle. 
The king again dissolved his parliament, 1,626. 

8. A new parliament exhibited a spirit of determined reformation. 
A Petition of Right was passed bj^ both houses, which declared the 
illegality of raising money without their sanction, or of enforcing 
loans from thesul>ject, annulled all taxes imposed without the consent 
of j)arliament, and abolished the exercise of the martial law ; and 
Charles was obliged, with much reluctance, to give his assent to 
this great retrenchment of prerogatives, sanctioned by the usage of 
the most popular of his predecessors. 

9. The taxes of tonnage and poundage had usually been contin- 
ued from one reign to another. On this ground the king conceived 
that he was warranted to levy them without a new grant; and a 
member of the house of commons was imprisoned on refusal to pay 
them. This arbitrary measure excited an outrageous ferment in 
that assembly, and the consequence was a new dissolution of tlie 
parliament, 1,629. 

10. It was now a measure of necessity to make peace with Franca 
and Spain. The king persevered in levying the tonnage, poundage, 
and ship-money; and high fines were imposed for various ofFencey, 
without trial, by authority of the star-chamber. The legality of 
the tax of ship-money was disputed by John Hampden, who was 
condemned by the court of exchequer, contrary, as was generally 
thought, to justice and the laws of the realm. 

11. Those discontents were increased by religious enthusiasm- 
Charles, by theadviceof Laud, archbishop of Canterbury, had relax 
ed the penalties against catholics, and countenanced some innova- 
tions in the ceremonials of church worship, preludes, as they were 
termed, to the popish idolatries. He had likewise imprudently at- 



MODEKN Hi;STORY. 206 

loinpteci to introduce the liturgy oi the chn.rch of England among the 
Scots. These measures excited in Scotland very general discontent, 
and produced the most violent commotion. A hond, termed the JYa- 
tional Covenant, containing an oalh ofi-esiL-tance to ail religious inno- 
vations, was subscribed in Scotland by all ranks and conditions ; and 
in a general assembly at Glasgow the cpiscop-al hierarchy was sol- 
emnly abolished, 1,638. To maintain tills violent procedure the 
Scots reformers took up^ arms, and, alter seizing and fortifying the 
most important places of strength in the kingdom, boldly marched 
into the heart of England. 

12. It was now absolutely necessary to assemble a parliament, and 
the king at length saw that the torrent was irresistible, and resolved, 
though too late, to yield to it. A bill ^passed for -bolishing the ton- 
nage and poundage without consent of parliament, and received the 
royal assent. Monopolies of every kind were ab<jl!-iieJ. A parlia- 
ment was agreed to be summoned every third your. L'nsalislied 
with these concessions, the commons impeached the earl of Strafi'ord, 
the king's lirst minister, of high treason, together with Laud, arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, v;\\o v.cre cliai'ged, as the chief counsellors of 
the crown, with;: ,., i n ^T subverting the liuvs anil constitution of 
the realm. The i ■ > : ■. liort!, whose trial by his peers would 
have terminated in i- :,'■;■ ui;il, u' as secured l>y a bill of attainder, 
to which the king Vva.;, wilii the greatest reluctance, ibrced to give 
his assent. The commons seized that moment of anguisli to ob- 
tain his consent to a decisive measure, a l:"i'l which rendered the 
parliament perpetuid by (ieclaring that it ehouid vxA be dissolved nor 
adjourned except by its own decree, 1,641. Strafford and Laud were 
both belieaded. 

13. This last mep.sure of the comn-:cns ' " ;• i inincd pur- 
pose to overturn the consiitulion. Thei;- ;. ' ,-i ' r'.o had 
the show of justice, and most of tiiem migiit ■ ■ . .' on the 
principles of true pairiotism. But from this ; : * uuduct 
was treason to their couiitrv and ii;- ;:cvor;i!uc; :. -i lid de- 
i^troyed the equal ■ mI, and every 
subseauent measi;. 

14. The Iris!) i.,...:,.r. -uvi, 
with the purpos;' :ii, 
and shaking off ii io 
massacre all the [ . 
rebellion Gharies = 
which they inter i i\ , . , i ; . - 
itary powers of the crown. ! 
levied, and supplied vvith arm- , 

15. The. bishops having conji Ml 
from the populace, and having prolesLed against the proceedings of 
the lords in their absence, were impeached of treason by the com- 
mons, and committed to the Tower. The patience of Charles was 
exhausted. He caused five of the commons to be impeached, and 
went in person to the house to seize them; a breach of the privilege 
of parliament, for which he found it necessary to atone by a humili- 
ating message. 

16. A new bill of the commons, naming the commanders of all -the 
fortified places, who should be responsible to parliament alone, was 
understood to be a declaration of war. The next step was to assume 
the whole legislative power, by declaring it a breach of privilege to 
dispute the law of the land promulged by the lonls and commoris. 

S 











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lie nui- 


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lives were in 


danger 



«06 MODl^lC. lilorORY. 

But the iorJ-j were merely ;i !iamo, being entirely uiHier the coutrol 
of the commons. 

17. The sword was now to decide the contest. The royal cause 
was supported by a gre^t proportion ot' the landed interest, all the 
friends ot" the established church, and all the Ciitholics in the king- 
dom. On the side of the parliament were the city of London and 
most of the greater towns, with all the dissentei?! and sectaries. The 
fir^t campaign was favourable to the royalists, ^vho defeated the par- 
iiamentaiy forces at Worcester and Edgehill, but lost the battle of 
Newbury. 

18. The parliam-ent now entered into a rtrict confederacy with 
the Scots, both in the articles of politics and rel'gion; and the Solemn 
League mid Covenant^ a new bond more specilic in its objects than 
thoTormer, and more treasonable in its purpose, was framed atEdin- 
i'.urgh, for the purification of both churches, the reformation of both 
kingdoms, the m.iintenunce of the privileges of king and parlia- 
ment, and bringing tojusice all malignants. In consequence of this 
confederacy, 20,000 Scots took the field toco-operate with the forces 
of the parliament. 

19. At this time Oliver Cromwell commanded a regiment of 
horse under Fairliix, general of the parliament ; but in reality direct- 
ed all the measures of the army. In Scotland the royal cause was 
gallantly sustained by the marquis of Pdontrose; Jjut all was lost in 
fcjigland by the defcnt at Naseby, in 1,645. The troops of the roy- 
alists being entirely dispersed, the king threw himself into the hands 
of the Scots, who basely delivered him up to the commissioners of 
parliament, froip whom he was taken by Cromweirs orders, and con- 
ducted to the arm}', which was now master of the kingdom. Croiii 
well entering London a^^sumed an absolute control over the parlia- 
ment, and iuiprisono;d all who disputed his authority. Charles, escai>- 
')ng from his confinement, tied to the isle of Wight ; but was there de- 
tained a prisoner in Cari?brook castle. 

20. The parliament, sud'ering under this military usurpation, were 
no.v sincerely desirous of terminating a miserable anarchy by a 
treaty with tlio king, and, after a long negotiation, all terms were 
finally adjusted. Charles agreed to resign lo parliament the military 
power, the disposal of all the olticcs of state, and the right of creat- 
ing peers without the consent of parliament: he agreed to abolish 
the episcopal hierarchy, and to establish the presbyterian di-cipline. 
Tli.ese concessions tlie parliament accepted by a majority of surtVa 
2es, and declared them lo be a sullicicnt basis lor the settlement of 
the kingdom. Cromwell instantly surrounded the house of commons, 
and, excluding all but his own partisans (about sixty in number), a 
second vote was passed, rescinding tlie formei, and declaring it 
treason in a king to levy war against his parliament. A court of 
ias-tice was then appointed to try the king for this act cf treason. 
The house of lords, having unanimously rejected this decree, were 
immediately voted, by this junto of independents, to be a useless 
branch of the constitution. 

21. Charles was brought to trial, and, refuiing to acknowledge the 
authority of his judges, v/as condemned to suffer death. He was 
beheaded on the oOlh of January, 1,649. The arbitrary proceedings 
o! this monarch in the beginning of his reign were certainly sulii- 
cient to justily that resistance on the part of the people vvhiqh at 
length p'rodaccd its effect, in confining the regal authority within its 
just bounds, and securing the rational liberties of the subject. But 



I\IOi;r:K>J HiSTOKY. 207 

from the period \\ h&n (his end was attained, resistance ceased to be 
lawful. Its further operations were criminal in the extreme. The 
subsequent usurpations of the commons can no more he justijfied on 
any constitutional priixiple, than the murder of the king can be de- 
I'ended uu the score of legality, justice, of humanity. 

SECTION LVII. 
THE COMMON\VEALTH OF ENGLAND. 

1. The parliament of Scotland had taken no part in these lattei 
scenes, and had formally protested against the trial of the king. On 
his death they proclaime-i Charles II. their sovereign, but on the ex- 
press condition of his signing the covenant, and ratifying their con- 
iession of faith. Ireland recognised him without any conditions. 
'I'he heroic marquis of Montrose landed in the north of Scotland with 
a lew foreign troops, and attempted to reduce the party of the cove- 
nanters, and to establish the legal authority of the king, independent 
ol" the servile restrictions with which they had fettered it. Being 
attacked by a much superior force, he was deflated, and betrayed 
into the power of liis enemies, who put him to death by the hands 
of the executioner, 1,G50; displaying in the circumstances of his 
punishment all the insolence of cruelty which distinguishes revenge 
w tlie meanest of souls. Charles retired to Scotland, and n as obliged, 
however reluctantly, to acquiesce in all the terms that were imposed 
on liim. 

2. Cromwell, with 1G,()00 men, marched into Scotland against the 
royalist covenanters, whom he deleated in the Lattle of J)unhar. lie 
ttien followed the royal army, which retreated into England, and 
destroyed it in the decii:^ivc haltle of Worcester, September 3, 1,651. 
Charles lied in disguise thrcagj;) the western and soutliern counties, 
till he iound an opportunity of escaping to France ; and Cromwell 
returned in triumph to London. 

3. The republican [jurliament formed and executed great designs. 
A war with Holland was most ably maintained on both sides by three 
groat naval commanders, Biake, the British admiral, and Van Tromp 
and de Uuytor, the Dutch admirals; but the advantage was greatly 
in fliv'.ur of the English, who took above 1,600 Dutch ships. The 
parliament, claled by tliose successes, justly conceived that, while 
the nation was thus powcriul at sea, the army was an unnecessary bur- 
den, and determined to reduce it. To prevent this measure, Crom- 
weii framed a remoustnuice of the army, demanding the election of 
a new parliament. Tl.is remonstrance being disregarded, he entered 
the house of commons, which he l.ad surrounded Avith his troops, and 
declaring the parliarjient dissolved by his authority, forcibly turned 
the members out of doors. The republic of England, which had 
subsisted f )ur years and three months, was thus annihilated in one 
moment, AprifSO, 1,653. 

4. It was neccssai-y, however, that there should be (he appearance 
of yi parliament. A few mean persons, of fanatical character, were 
cJiosen by Ci-oinweirs partisans, from the dilferent counties of Eng- 
land, \\il:i live from Scotland, and six from Ireland, to hold their fun.> 
tion for tifteeen months. This assembly, termed Burcbone's parLia- 
ment^ from its leading member, a leather-seller, became the scorn of 
the public, and was dissolved, by its own vote, after five months. 



20U MODEIiN HISTORY. 

5. The government was now vested in the council of officers, 
»vho nominated Oliver Cromwel! lord protector of the three king- 
doms, invested him with the power of making peace, war, and alli- 
ance, and authorized a standing army of 30,000 men to be kept up 
for the support of governm-ent. His administration was despolic, 
vigorous, and spirited. He maintained the honour of the nation in 
tlie war with the Dutch, compelling them to yield the honour of the 
Hag, and to compensate to the India company all its losses. He Avas 
successful likewise in his negotiations with France and Spain. But 
in his domestic government he was traversed by his parliaments, 
whom it cost him a continual struggle, and even violence, to keep in 
order. One parliament, properly prepared, voted him the regal 
title, which, by the council of his best friends, he was forced, most 
unwillingly, to refuse, hi recompense of this self-denial, the parlia 
m?nt confirmed iiis title of protector, with a lixed revenue, and de- 
creed his right of appointing a successor. He was king in all luit 
the name. 

6. By consent of parliament Cromwell appointed a house oflortis; 
but all the ancient peers declined the protiorod honour. He was 
forced to choose peers from the commons ; and thus he lost tiie ma- 
jority in the lower house. His temper soured with disappointment, 
a prey to chagrin, and in continual fear of assassination, he fell at 
length into a mortal disease, and died in the fifty-ninth year of his age. 
September 2, 1.G58. 

' 7. Richard Cromwell, son of Oliver, succeeded to the protectorate 
by his father's appointment. Ho was a man of weak understanding 
and fticilo temper, utterly unfit for his hazardous situation, which 
accordingly he maintained only for a few months, resigning his otlice 
on the ^id of April, 1,659. His brother Henry, viceroy of Ireland, 
immediately followed his example. The family of the Cromwelis,^ 
which the talents of one man had eleA^ated above the sovereigns of 
their country, returned to its original obscurity. 

8. The remains of that nominal parliament which had put the king 
to death, termed, in derision, the ruinp^ was now dissolved by the 
council of oihcers. Of these every aspiring individual had his own 
separate views of ambition. IntrigTie, cabal, and anarchy, were univer- 
sal; and the nation, looking forward with horror to a series of calam- 
ities, began earnestly to dosii'e the restitution of its ancient govern- 
ment. George Monk, comma.ndcr of the army in Scotland, judged 
tho^e symptoms favourable lor restoring tlic exiled monarch to the 
tlirone of Ids ancestors. Marching his arm.y into England, he declar- 
ed his resolution to bring about the election of a free parliament, 
which all men knev/ to be synonymous with the restoration of the 
king. It was of course violently opposed by the republican party, 
who even attempted to excite a'new civil war; but they were forced 
at length to acquiesce in the measure. A free parliament was assem- 
bled, and a message was presented from Charles, offering a full in- 
demnity, complete liberty of conscience, and payment of all arrears 
to the army. The message was received with transports of joy, and 
Charles 11. was proclaimed king on the 29th day of May, 1,660. 



MODERN HISTORY. 2TO 



SECTION LVIll. • 

•IHE REIGiNS OF CHARLES II. AND JAMES II. % 

1. The nation, without imposing any terms on their new sovc- ^, 
reign, trusted implicitly to his good dispositions. Charles in'as humane/ fc 
and complacent, but indolent, luxurious, and prodigal ; and therefore" ^ 
was neither able to support the national honour abroad, nor to rotn- , 
mancl obedience and respect to his domestic government. TJie sale V^ 
of Dunkirk was a measure offensive to the pride of" the iiauon. A y 
war with. Holland, supported at a vast expense, and irainiamed in jd 
many desperate but indecisive engagements, was attended hnaily 7 
uithno material benefit. By the treaty ofBieda, concluded in l,oG7i 
New York was .-ecured to the English, the isle of" Polerone to the 
Dutch, ;ind Acadia in North America to the French. 

2. 'Ihe sale of Dunkirk, and the unsuccessful issue of the war, 
attributed to the counsel of the earl of Clarendon, procured the di.'- 
graco and banishment of that illustrious man, 1,667. The peace was 
scarcely concluded with Holland, when England joined with her an 1 
S\veden in a triple alliance, to oppose the progress of the arms cl 
Leu'is XIV. in the Low Countries; and that object being attained by 
liie treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1,603, the French monarch gained 
the English over to his interest in a new war against the Dutcli, 
which brought their republic to the brink of destruction. 

3. The domestic administration of Charles was embroiled from 
various carises, originating in the personal character and dispcYiiioi;:i 
of tiie sovereign. He trusted to profligate and worthless counsellors. 
His arbitrary notions of government, and the partiality which ho 
siiowed to the catholics, gave perpetual alarm and uneasiness to a 
great proportion of his subjects. Complaints resounded from ever) 
quarter; and the parliament required a test-oath, abjuring popery, 
from all persons in public employment. On refusal to take this oath, 
the king's brother, James duke of York. \vas deprived ot' his oliice 
of high admiral. 

4. Titus Oates, a worthless mipostor, pi-elended to have di=^cc->- 
cred a plot of the catholics for assassinating the king, burning Lon- 
don, massacring the protestants, ;md placing the duke of York on 
the throne. Another villain, named Bedioe, joined his evidence 
to that of Oates; and on their perjured testimony, al'lervvard I'idiy 
exposed, a \'e\\ miserable priests suffered death. A new test w;.'s 
imposed, which excluded all papists fi'om both houses oi pariiament 
The treasurer Danby was impeached for advising the hist peace wiui 
France, though it was proved that he had acted by his sovereign's 
orders; and a hill passed the iiouse of commons, excluding the dnke 
of York trom the succession to the crown. A more important^ bill 
for the general liberty, the act of Jiubcas corpus was the work of the 
same session of parliament. (Sect. LIX., § 14.) 

5. I'he distinguisiiiiig epithets of whig and tory Avere now li'r;-t 
known; the former, the opposers of the crown, against the latter, 
iis pailJsans; and each party, as in all factions, carried its principles 
to an extreme. The whig^, predominant in the next parliament, 
raged with t'ury against the calhohcs, and insisted on the king's assent 
to the bill lor the exclusion of his brother. His only expedient was 
to dissolve the parliament, but he found their successors equaJly vic- 
S? 27 



i 



210 aiODKKN HISTORY. 

lent. After various fruitless attempts to conciliate their favour to hlg 
measures, a dissolution of this parliament ensued, the last which 
Charles assembled. 

6. But the great cause of dissatisn-.ction remained. The duke of 
York was at the bottom of all the measures of government. A con- 
spiracy was formed by Shaftesbury, Ilussel, Sydney, and the duke of 
Monmouth, natural son of the kingl on the pretence of vindicating 
the natiorr.d liljerlies. It was discovered by one of the associates, 
and Russel and Sydney suftered capital punishment. Tiio detection 
of this conspiracy strengthened the authority of the sovereign. I'he 
thike of York was restoi'ed to his oflicG of high admiral, and tacitly 
acknowledged as the successor to the crown. Charles 11. died on 
the 6th'of jb'ebraary, 1,685, in the 55th year of his age, and tb.c 25th 
of his reign. 

7. The duke of York succeeded to the throne by the title ot 
James II. His reign was short and inglorious. He was the instru 
ment of his own misfortunes, and ran headlong to destruction. The 
catholics at this time were not the hundrec'th par.t of the nation, 
yet James was weak enough to m^ke the desperate attempt of sub 
stituting the popish faith in room of the protestant. Discarding the 
nobility from his councilsi lie was directed solely by Romish priests. 
In the very outset of hi^ reign he expressed his contempt ol' the au- 
thority of parliament, and a iirni purpose to exercise an unlimited 
despotism. 

8. The duke of Monmouth, having excited a new rebellion, uas 
defeated, made prisoner, and beheaded ; and the most inhuman 
rigour was exercised in the punishment of all his partisans, l-iie 
parliament was in general submissive to the king's will, which foi' a 
while met with no opposition nor control. A declaration was pub 
lished, estabiisiung full liberty of conscience in matters of religion ; 
and several biushops, who refused to publish it in their diocesses, 
were committed to prison. A catholic president was appointed to 
one of the colleges at Oxford. An ambassador was sent to the pope, 
and a papal nuncio received in London. The catholics openly boast- 
ed that^heirs would scon be the religion of the state. 

6. James had three children; Mary, the wife of the stadtholder 
William prince of Orange ; Anne, married to prince George of Den 
mark; and James, an infant. The stadtholder had considered his 
right to the crown ot" England as certain before the birth of this 
iaViiat, and, after that event, projected still to gain it by arms or in- 
trigue ; the infatuation of the king and the general discontent of the 
people giving him the most dattering invitation, James was intbrm- 
r.d of those views of his son-in-law, but would give them no credit, 
till actually apprized of his landing with an army, November 15th 
1,G8-B. ' 

10. The pi-incipal nobility and officers immediately joined the 
standard of the prince of Oriuige; and James was at once abandoned 
by his people, ministers, favourites, and his own children. Leaving 
London in disguise, he was discovered and biought back by the pop- 
ulace , but the prince of Orange wisely favoured his escape, and he 
found means a few days after, to convey himself to France. 

11. The throne being declarcil vacant, it \vas proposed in a con- 
vention-parliament, that the crown should be settled on the princess 
Mary and her issue, her husbaiul governing as regent, whom failing, 
on the jjrincess Anne. The stadtholder declining the office of regent, 
it wa5 (inally resolved to confer the crown on the prince and prin- 



MODKKN MKTOlir. 21 j 

ce.s3 of Orange, the former to ^iiive the sole administration of the 
government. 

12. To this settlement was added a declaration fixing the rights of 
tlie subject and the royal prerogative. Of this the most important 
articles are the ibllowing. The king cannot suspend the laws, nor 
their execution ; he cannot levy money without consent of parlia- 
ment; the subjects have right to petition the crown; a standing 
army cannot be kept up in time of peace but by conseiit of parlia- 
ment ; elections and parliamentary debate must be free, and parlia- 
ments niiist be frequently assembled, &c. Such was the final settle- 
ment of the British government at the great era of the revolution. 
At this period, when the constitution became fixed and determhied, 
we finish the sketch of the history of our own country. 



SECTION LIX. 
ON THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 

1. The rudiments of t'.-e constitution of England mav be traced as 
far back as the JN'orman conquest. William distributed a great pro- 
portion ot the lands among his Norman followers, subjecting these, 
as well as tho Anglo-Saxons who retained their property to the feu- 
dal tenures, and tiuis extin£;uishing at once the ancient liberties of the 
people. England was divided into 60,215 military fiefs, all held 
of the crown, under tiie obligation of the vassaPs taking arms for 
his sovereign whenever required. In the continental kingdoms of 
Europe, as in France, the feudal system arose by slow degrees, nor 
U'lis there of consequence the same union of the fabric as in 
England. The feudal lords were independent of one another, ever 
at variance from their mutual pretensions, and often owning but a 
very slender allegiance to the crown. Their vassals suffered from 
oppression, and often struggled for their freedom ; but those efforts 
being partial produced no consequence favourable to the liberty of 
the nation. In England all vvere oppressed by tlie enormous weight 
of the crown ; it was a common grievance, and produced at times a 
violent effort for the general liberties of the people. 

2. The forest-laws nnposed by the conqueror (Sect. XV., § 2, 11.) 
were a grievance felt by the whole nation, as rendering every man's 
property precarious, and subject to the arbitrary encroachments of 
the crown. It was no wonder that (he barons and their vassals should 
cordially unite to rid themselves of so intolerable a hardship. Henry 
I. found it necessary to conciliate his subjects, by mitigating the most 
rigoi'ous of the feudal laws. A greater advance was made under 
Jlenry II., by the institution of the trial by jury. But John impru- 
dently resisting this natm'al progress toward a rational freedom, was 
soon compelled into thos? important concessions, the Charta de Foresta 
and Mitgna Charta. From that time the constitution of England was 
that of a limited monarchy, v.hatever we may judge of the actual 
government, which was often most arbitrary and despolical. 

'^. The next memorable era in the progress of the English consti- 
tution was the reign of that weak prince J-Ienry III., when the par- 
liament received a new form, bv the admission of the representatives 
of the people, the deputies of the counties and boroughs. (Sect, 
XXII., § 2.) His successor Edward I. acknowledged their authority 
in obtiiining ail his subsidies, and ratified a new law which declareil, 



212 MODERN HISTOIIY. 

thai no tax should be levied without the consent of lords and com- 
mons. The Magna Charta was confirmed no less than eleven times 
in the course oflhis reign. 

4. Thu'S the constitution continued advancing (ill its progress was 
suspended by the civil wars of York and Lancaster. The rights of 
both prince and people seemed then io be entirely forgotten; and 
the race of Tudor found no resistance from parliament to theii- vigor- 
ous and despotic sway. The talents of Eliz.-.beth, and tiie high 
character which her government sustained with foreign powers, ex- 
tinguished all domestic disquiets, while the predominant feeling was 
the mj'dntenance of the power and dignity of the crown. 

5. But under the succeeding prince, when his power and dignity 
were abased by his own weakness, the nation began to awake tVom 
its lethargy ; and that spirit of opposition, which in this reign con- 
fuied itself to complaints, in the next broke forth with alarming vio- 
lence. Charles I., endowed with superior energy of character, acted, 
as he conceived, on a principle of duty, which obliged him to main- 
tain the prerogative of his predecessors, and to transmit it unimpaired 
to his posterity ; but he was imprudent in exerting with rigour an 
authority which he wanted ultimate resources to support. He was 
compelled to sign the Petition of' Riglrts^ n grant more i'avourable to 
liberty than Alajna Charta. The "true patriots were satistied with 
this concession, which conferred the most ample constitutional Iree- 
dom. But the popular leaders made patriotism the cloak of ins.itia- 
ble ambition; and advanced in their demands with every new com- 
plianca. The last appeal was made to the sword, and the contest 
ended in the destruction of the constitution. 

6. The despotism which succeeded, and the fluctuation of power 
from the long parliament to the protector, and finally to the leudera 
of a standing army, afforded demonstrative evidence how vain was 
the project of a republic, under which the demagogues had masked 
their^ designs. Weary of anarchy, the nation returned with high 
satisfaction to its former constitution, a limited monarchy. 

7. New encroachments under Charles II. produced new limita- 
tions; and the actot Habeas Corpus gave the utmost possible securit}' 
to jj^ersonal Uberty. The violent and frantic invasion of the consti- 
tution by James II., banished himself and his posterity from tlse 
throne, and produced a new and solemn contract between the king 
and the people. Regarding, therefore, the revolution as the final 
settlement of the English constitution, we shall endeavour brieiiy to 
dehneate the chief features of that great political structure. 

8. The constitution of Great Britain may be viewed under two 
distinct heads, the legislative power, and the executive power ; tiie 
hist comprehending the prerogative of the crown. 

The power of legislation belongs to parliament, whose constituent 
parts are, the king, lords, and common?. The house of lords con- 
sists ol the temporal peers of England, and of the spiritual, or the 
two archbishops and twenty-tour bishops. To these, since the 
unions with Scotland and Ireland, are added sixteen delegates from 
the peerage of the former kingdom, and thirty-two from' the latter. 
The house of commons consists of the deputies or representatives 
of the counties and principal towns and boroughs of England, and 
the two universities, amounting in all to 51.3 members; io whom, 
since the unions, are added 45 from Scotland and 100 from Ireland. 
These deputies are chosen by the freeholders who possess a prop- 
erty yielding a certain yearly rent. The chancellor generally pre- 



MOL'ERiN illSTORY. 513 

sides in the liouse of lords; the speaker is president in the house of 
commons. 

9. The king is the most essential conrponent part of parliament, 
because l:..e aione has the power to convoke, prorogue, and dissolve 
it. He Inis likewise a negative on all its acts, which are invalid 
without his approbation ; and each house has a negative on the do^ 
croos of the other. It is likewise competent to the king to propose 
any measure to be laid before the parliament. 

10. All questions regarding p-ublic atfairs and national measures 
may originate in either house of parliament, except grants of money, 
ivhich must always take their rise in the house of commons, and 
cannot be altered, though they may be rejected, by the lords. Any 
matter must be primarily discussed in that house in which it origi- 
nates, and, until it is there decided, cannot be received by the other 
house, unless a conierence should be demanded. A bill refused by 
cither house is ut'erly void; and a bill passed by both houses is void, 
if refused by the king 

11. The executive power of government is vested in the king. 
(1.) The tirst branch of his oiRce is the administration of justice. 
The judges of all courts of judicature are the king's substitutes. 
He is the prosecutor of ail crimes, and has the power of pardoning 
and suspending the execution of all sentences. (2.) He is the foun- 
tain of all honour, the giver of all titles and dignities, and the dis- 
poser of all the offices of state. (3.) He is the superintendant of 
commerce, and has the power of regulating weights and measures, 
and of coining m.oney. (4.) He is the head of the church, and 
names the 'archbishops and bishops. (5.) He is commander in 
chief of all the sea and land forces, and can alone equip fleets, levy 
armies, and appoint all their officers. (6.) He has the power of mak- 
ing war, peace, and alliance, and of sending and receiving ambassa- 
dors. (7.) He is aljove the reach of all courts of justice, and is not 
responsible to any judicature for his conduct in the administration ol 
government. 

12. These high powers of the sovereign, which, at first sight, 
would seem to render him an absolute m.onarch, are thus admirably 
controlled. The king is dependent on parliament for all subsidies, 
without which he can neither maintain his fleets and armies, nor pay 
the salaries of officers. The parliament indeed settles a revenue on 
the king for life, but this is merely sufficient for the maintenance oi 
his household, and for supporting a proper dignity of establishment 
As the_ king's revenue must be renewed by parliament at the begin- 
ning of every reign, it is in their power to withhold it till all abuses 
sliall be remedied. At those periods therefore the constitution may 
be brought back to its first principles, and all encroachments '' the 
prerogative may be restrained. 

13. The king can never reign without a parliament. It must by 
law be assembled once in three years, on a notice of forty days 
before its meeting. Though the king is the head of the church, yet 
he cannot alter the established religion, nor frame ecclesiastical 
regulations. These must be made by the assembly of the clergy. The 
king cannot interfere in the ordinary administration of justice, nor 
refuse h.is consent to the prosecution of crimes. He may pardon 
offences, but cannot exempt the offender from pecuniary compensa- 
tion to the party injured, irle cannot alter the standard of money, 
either in weight or alloy. He cannot raise art army without the con- 
tent of parliament ; and though a moderate standing force is kept up 



gl4 MODERN HISTOllY. • ' 

with their consent, yet the funds lor its payment require an annual 
reneual by parliament. Tjiough the sovereign is not amenable to 
any j!](licalure, yet his ministers are responsible tor all the measures 
oi"'gov>niment, and are impeachable by the commons at the bar oi 
the house of lords, for every species of misronducl or misdemeanour. 

■I'he freedom of parliamentary discussion is secured, because no 
member can be questioned for any opinions or words, except in that 
liouse of |)arliameat in which they were uttered. 

It. The personal security and the rights of the subject are fur- 
ther guarded by these three peculiarities of the British constitution, 
tlie habeas corpus^ trial by juries, and the liberty of the press^ By 
(he act of habtjis corpus, every prisoner must be brought beibre a 
judge, the cause of his detainer certilied, and the judge is authorized 
ancfbound to discharge him, if the cause of his imprisonment be in- 
snilicient or illegal. The violation of this statute is punishaL'le hy the 
highest pf nalties. The luibcas corpus m;!y bo suspended in times of 
danger to (he state, as during the existence of a conspiracy or rebel- 
lion?" Though this act does not extend to Scotland, yet tlie subjects ol 
that part of the united kingdoms are equally secured by their own 
laws. (Statute 1,701, c. 6.) 

15. Ail crunos must be tried by a jury of twelve men in England 
and Ireland, and fifteen in Scotland. The prisoner h;;s a riglit ol 
challenging or objecting to the jurors ; and (except in Scotland), with- 
out showing any cause, he mi'.y challenge twenty successively in or- 
dinary cases, and thirly-livc in cases of treason. The jmy are judges 
Iiotli of the hw and the fict; nor has the opinion of the court any 
weight in their decision, but such as they ciiooso to give it. 

IG. The liberty of the press is a guardian of the constitution, be- 
cause it is competent for any individual to convey to the public his 
ojiinion of the whole conduct of government, and the merits of its con- 
diictors; lo canvass every counsel of state, ;md to examine every pub- 
lic tneasru'e ; tlius forcibly restraining all ministers and magistrates 
vvitliin the limiLs of th^nr <!uty._ it is t'uriher the guardian of iujnn^d 
innocence, and the redresser of all wronj^s that evade the cognizance 
of law. Vet this most valuable ri^ht, if unrestrained, would be the 
source of the greatest mischief. If it were allov^able with impunity 
to assail the established government, to convulse society, to dissem- 
inate atheism, to injure the reputation, or to endanger the life and 
property, of individuals, by filse accusations, there would be an end 
of ad liberty and civil happiness. The lii)erty ci' liie press consists 
in this, that there is no examination of wiilings previous to the print- 
ing and pnbiisb.ing of them; but, after publication, such writisigs as 
o ' eud in any of the above particulars are punishable by law, on trial 
ot Ibe olfence by jury. Thus the public is properly constituted the 
judge and censor of all wriiings addressed to itself 

17. Such are brietiy the outlines of the admirable fibiic of the 
Briiish constitution. Esto perpeliia. ! {tmy it exist for ever !) 

SECTION LX. 

OF THE PUBLIC REVEXUE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 

I. Tiffi property belonging to the crowa of Great Britain, which 
WHS anciently very great, and fully adequate to the maintenance ot 
gcvemmenfl ronsisted of do.main-lands, the first fruits and tenths of , 



MODERJN HISTOKV.. 215 

churcli-benefices, the rents of vacant bishoprics and abbeys, the prof^ 
its of military tenures, fines im{30sed in courts of justice, forfeitures, 
kc. i'rorn alienations made by the sovereigns, and retrenchments of 
their prerogative, the property of the crown is now become so in^ 
considerable, that the king may be regarded as entirely dependent 
on tiie people for the support of his dignity, and the means of carry- 
ing on the business ot the state. The public revenue, destined lor 
these two purposes, arises now from the subsidies granted by the 
people. The supplies are A^oted by the cominons, and the means 
of iurnishing them, by bixes proposed by the chancellor of the 
exchequer, must receive their sanction. 

2. Of these faxes some are annual, as the land tax and malt tax ; 
others are perpetual, as the customs, excise, salt duly, post-office 
duty, stamps, house and window tax, duties on servants, hackney 
coaches, pensions, &.c. The customs are a tax paid by the merchani 
on all imported and exported commodities; the excise is an inlii-nd 
imposition, laid sometimes on the consumer, and sometimes on the 
retail seller. 

2. The produce of these taxes is, in the first place, destined to 
the payment of the interest of ihc national debt, and afterward to 
the ordinary support of government. 

The national debt arose soon after the revolution, when it was 
thought hazardous to impose annual taxes equal to the annual ex- 
pense of government, and more expedient to borroAv large sums for 
tile immediate service of the state, raising annually no more than 
to pay the ir.terest of that debt. The same system has been since 
persevered in; so that the national debt, which a century ago was 
16 millons, is now above 300 millions. To pay the interest of this 
enormous sum the produce of the taxes (excepting the malt and 
land tax) are primarily destined; and as somewhat more is aifnually 
raised than the interest of the debt and the maintenance c-^' govern- 
ment demand, the surplus constitutes a sinking fund fw paying off 
the principal of the debt. 

4. The produce of the taxes, originally seppf-nte funds, is now 
thrown into two or three capital funds; one ^^ which is mortgaged 
by piirliament lor the m-.inienanco of the Ring's household and the 
civil list, namely, the salaries of ofliccF' of state, judges, and ambas- 
sadors, private expenses, pensions, ^c. 

5. iSotwithstanding the litti' prospect of an exlinclion of t'\e 
national debt, goverument rpaintains its credit, and will always (i \d 
lenders, because tiie term-^ granted are beneficial, and the seciaily is 
transferable; so that a I'ender can thus always obtain payment of"l is 
principal sum. and il-equentiy make gain by the transfeKi.ce. Tiic 
value of stock r-«cs and falls from various occa-^ional can.^es. as i>.a- 
tional prospe-'rty, or the reverse, plenty or scai-city of money, quan- 
tity of p«i")lic debt. On this variation is founded the practice ol 
stock->3iJbing, that is, either buying and selling actual property in the 
piiU'fc funds, which is a lawful speculation, or gaming and wagering 
on the price of stock, which is an illicit but common practice. The 
practice of stock-jobbing, even by the transference of actual proj}er- 
ty, and far more by gaming on that which is fictitious, is prejudicial 
to commerce and manufactures, by engrossing a great part of the 
national wealth, repressing industry, encouraging fraud, and often 
tempting to the most treacherous and dangerous devices for raising 
ttiid sinking the fun«is. 



il& MODERN HISTORY 

■■'■' 

SECTION LXI. 
HISTORY OF FRANCE UxVDER LEWIS XIII. 

1. France, which under Henry IV. had risen from a state of miser- 
gblc anarchy to high prosperity and splendour, sunk, upon his death, 
into wealiness, faction, and disorder. Mary oi" Medici, regent in the 
minority of her son Lewis Xlil., a weak woman, and of restless an»- 
bition, disgusted the nobiUty by her partiality for her Italian courtiers 
Concini, her first minister, created marshal d'Ancre, became so uni 
versaliy odious, that he was openly murdered in the Louvre, and 
his body torn to pieces. The yueen was removed from Paris, and 
kept for two years a prisoner at Blois^ till relieved by the duke 
d'Epernon, to serve his own purposes of ambition. The queen's party 
was at war with that of her son, and the whole kingdom in a state cf 
anarchy. 

2. The genius of cai-dinai Ilichelieu, v/ho was nou' brought into 
power by Mary of Medici, soon ellected a wonderful change. He 
reconciled the mother and her son, soothed the contending iactions. 
and, on the king's assuming the government, directed every public 
measure to the complete re-establisiiment of the power and dignity 
of the monarchy. The paity of the Caivinists, alienated by perse- 
cution, attempted to throw off their allegiance, and to establish an in- 
dependent state, of which Rochelle was to be the capital. Richelieu 
bargained with the Dutch to furnish a fleet tor subduing their prot- 
estant Irethren, and tlie Dutch now fought as keenly for the catho- 
lic religion as they had lately fought for the protestant. The Eng- 
lish sent a lleet to the aid of the people of Ilochcile, Vv'ho for a year 
maintained a most obstinate siege against the French troops, co;;.- 
manded by ihe cardinal in person. They were at length forced to 
surrender. Rothelle and all the other protestant^ cities of France 
%vere stri}5ped ot *.heir privileges, and their foriifications were de- 
stroyed. Thus CalviiAsni was for ever crushed in France. 

3. Lewis XIII., though ^ weak prince, saw liis advantage in en- 
tering into all the great derJcrns of his minister. Richelieu inilu 
enced the politics of all Europ<i: iiin\ the power of Austria was 
attacked in Germany, Flanders, Spalq, -md Italy. His talents woj'e 
equally displayed m active war, in foreign negotiation, and in hi;^ 
domestic arrangements. Yet at this verj time a formidable cabal 
was undermining him. Mary of Medici w«4 jealous of the man 
Tvhom she had raised : and the duke of Orleans, «Jie king's brother, 
sought to supplant him in power. Richelieu, with admonishing intre- 
pidity of mind, repressed this cor.spiracy. Fortiiied Iry^ the king's 
authority he seized the marshal de xVlarillac, one of his luo&t danger 
ous enemies, at the head of his army ; and tried and put \x[m to 
death by a lawless stretch of power. Orleans, apprehensive of a 
similar fate, tied from the kingdom ; and Mary of Medici, arrest.:j 
and removed from court, ended her career of ambition in voluntary 
exile at Brussels. Orleans, supported by the duke de Montmorenci, 
attempted a rebellion ; but their army was defeated, and Moutmo- 
rerci executed for treason. The queen had taken part with the 
eneniies of the cardinal, who imprisoned her confessor, and seized 
and examined her pajpers. Anne of Austria was very near sharing 
the fate of Mary of Medici 



MODERN HISTORY. 217 

4. Amidst all this turbulence of foreign war and state cabal, Riche- 
lieu cnllivated literature, encouraged llie r^cicnccs, instituteil the 
French academy, anti coinposed.pieces for the tiieiUre. The admin 
istration of Riclieiieu, though turbulent from faction and civil war 
was, on the whole, extremely glorious for France ; and sowed the 
seeds of its splendour in the succeeding reign of Lewis XIV. The 
death of this great minister, in 1,642, was soon after loUowed by the 
death of his sovereign Lewis XIll., in 1,G43. 



SECTION LXIl. 

SPAIN UNDER PHILIP III. AND PHILIP IV. CONSTITUTION OF 
PORTUGAL AND OF SPAIN. 

1. From the death of Philip II. Spain declined in power, and, not- 
withstanding its great sources of wealth, the national finances were 
in the utmost disorder. Piiilip Hi. was forced to conclude a pence 
with the Dutch, and to restore to the house of Niissau its coijfiscaled 
estates. With a weak and despicable policy he expelled from his 
kingdom all the IMoors, who were the most industrious of'ils inhabi- 
tants, 1,610. This depopulation, v/ith that already produced by its 
American colonies, rendered Spain a lifeless and enervated mass. 
Philip was entirely under tiie inliuence of his minister the duke of 
Lerma. 

2. The national weakness :ind disorders increased under Philip IV., 
who, equally spiritless as his father, was implicitly ruled by his min- 
ister Olivarez. His reign was a continued series of m.scarriages and 
defeats. The Putch seized Brazil; the French invaded Artois; 
Catalonia revolted. to Fnince ; and i-Oitugai shook off its yoke, and 
became an independent kingdom. 

3. No revolution was ever eQccted with such ease and celerity 
as that of Portugal. The people were disgusted with the rigorous 
and impolitic administration of Olivarez. The duke of Bragan/a, 
descended from the ancient kings of Portugal, had the commaad of 
theai'my. Instigated by the ambition of the duchess, and seeing the 
spirit of the nation favourable to his views, he caused himself to be 
proclaimed' king at Lisbon. The Spanish guards were attacked and 
routed, and" the chief partisans of the government put to death by 
the populace. All the principal towns Ibliowed the example of the 
capital, and soon after all the foreign settlements. From that era, 
1,640, Portugal became an independent sovereignty, after having 

, been sixty years an appanage of the kingdom of Spain. 

I 4. The government of Portugal approaches to an absolute mon- 

I archy. The consent of the states or cortes, consisting of clergy, 

jl nobility, and commons, was formerly necessary to the imposition of 

'! taxes, and the settlement of the succession to the crown. But this 

assenibly, convoked only by the royal mandate, has tor a long lime 

ceased to meet. The ordinary business of government is transacted 

by the king and his council of s 'ite, which is appointed by himself. 

The revenue of the crown aris s from its domains, including the 

family estates of Braganza ; from \he duties on espoilsand imports, 

from the taxes, and from a stated iroporfion of the gold brought from 

Brazil. The state of the commerce and manufactures of Portugal 

is extremely low. Though the soil and climate are favourable to 

cultivation, yet the agriculture of the kingdom is much neglected. 

T 23 



818 MODERN HISTORY. 

5. The reigns of Philip III. and IV. of Spain, though an era of 
national humiliation, dorivcd some tame from the state of Uterature. 
Dramatic composition, poetr}, romance, and even history, were 
cultivated witli groat success. Jiut these pursuits are in some sort 
the an»'isements of indolence, vvliich was tht predominant character 
of the people. This character may h.ive arisen from two sources. 
The torrent of wealth poured in from America retarded, in the lower 
classo'^, domestic industry and manufactures, while it increased the 
pride ol' the gentry, and made them disdain all occupation; and the 
despotism of the government strongly repressed all enterprise and 
activity in the people. 

6. The constitution of Spain, of which the sovereignty was in an- 
cient times elective, is now that of an absolute moniirchy. TJie 
crown is hereditary; though at ditferent times, as in 1,619 and 1,713, 
there has been a new limitation of the succession made by the mon- 
arch. The Cortes^ or states of the kingdom, limited in former times 
the power of the sovereign; but Charles V. annihilated their author- 
ity, uy depriving tiie nobility and clergy ot their seat in those as- 
semblies. The remaining members, the deputies of the towns, are 
entirely under the control of the monarch. The king's council, or 
Coiisejo Real^ is the organ of government ; but no department of the 
state has any constitutional power to regulate the will of the prince. 



SECTION LXIIl. 

AFFAIRS OF GERMANY FROM THE ABDICATION OF CHARLES 
V. TO THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA. 

1. To preserve the connexion of the atlairs of Germanr with 
those of the other kingdoms of Europe, we must return to the period 
of the abdication of Cii irles V., wiien the empire was dis; facted 
by the political factions and quarrels of its independent princi s, and 
by the contending sects of the catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists. 
Ferdinand vainly atten^pted to reconcile those factions, and to unite 
the three religions. Maximili.ui II. had still less power to efi^ct this 
object than his predecessor ; nor was the state of affairs cljanged 
during the succeeding reigns of Rodolphus 11. and Matthias. 4M^°a«^ 
t^ygijai- tHipty years^ duration reduced the empire to extremity 
IJnder Ferdinand 11., a zealous catholic, the protestant states of Bo- 
hemia, which had siiffL-red under the government of Matthias, con- 
ferred their crnvn on the elector I'alatinc. t'erdinand, in revenge, 
deprived him both of his crown and electorate. 

2. The protestant cause was declining fast in Germany, and every 
thmg seemed to indicate success to the schemes of Ferdinand for its 
entire annihilation, when it received new > igour from the interven- 
tion of Gustavus Adolphus king of Sweden. Tins great prince de- 
feated the imperial generals, and carried the protestant banners ti'ium- 
phantly through Germany. The emperor was conipletely humbled, 
anil the elector Palatine was on the eve of restoration to his domhi 
ions, when the heroic Gustavus was slain in the battle of Lut/.en, 
1,G.'^2. The war was successfidly prosecuted by the Swedisli goner 
als, while cardinal Richelieu harassed the house of Austria both in 
Germany and Spain. 

3. In the succeeding reign of Ferdinand HI., the protestants of 



MODEIIN HISl'ORV. 219 

Germany found the most active support both from the Swedes and 
the French. The emperor was ibrced to conclude the pe^ice of 
We^^tphalia in 1,648 ; and these powers dictated the terms. By this 
celelwatcd treaty all disputes were settled between the contending 
princes of the empire, and also between the contending religions ; 
the Swedes were indemnified for the charges of the war, and ac- 
«jijired Pomerania. Stettin, Wismar, and other provinces, and their 
sovereign the dignity of prince of the empire ; its chief posses- 
sions were restored to the Falatine family ; the king of France was 
made landgrave of Alsace ; and an equal establishment of the three 
religions was decreed. This salutary peace laid the I'oundation of 
the future greatness and prosperity of the German empire. 

SECTION LXIV. 
FRANCE UNDER LEWIS XIV. 

1. On the death of Lewis XIII. in 1,633, his son Lewis XIV. suc- 
ceeiled to the throne in the fifth year of his age. Europe, as we 
have seen, was in a most turbulent suite ; and France, under the ad- 
ministration of Richelieu, acted a conspicuous part in exciting those 
general commotions. The queen mother Anne of Austria, appointed 
regent by the states, chose for her minister the cardinal Mazarin, an 
Italian, and from that circumstance odious to the people. The S])aii- 
iards, taking advantage of the king's minority and the popular dis- 
ct-nlents, mule an attack on Champagne; but v.ere deiealed in a 
series of engagements by the great Conde. The marshal de Tu- 
renne shared with him llie palm of glory. The peace of Westpha- 
lia composed those ditlcrcnces. 

2. At this very time the commotions of the Frondt broke out in 
Paris. The jealousy of IMazurin's power, felt by tiie nobility, the 
unpopularity of his measures, the disorder of the hnancc-s, and the 
o-ppression of new taxes, intiamed the nation; and the intrigues of 
the coadjutor, afterwards cardinal de Ketz, blew the llame isito a 
civil war. 'Ihe parliament of Paris took p;;rt with the rebels, who 
were headed by the piince of Conti, the dukes of Longueville and 
Bouillon, and the chief nobility. Tiie queen and the Royal linnily 
removed to St. Germaiifs, and the ministerial party besieged Paris. 
Turenne, who at first supported them, was gained over by the 
rebels. The women, who are always concerned in the disturbances 
of France, acted a conspicuous part in tb.ose of the Fronde. A short 
l)aci!ication ensued ; but the imprudent vioicnce of Mazarin soon re- 
newed the disorders. At Unigth the parliament of Paris assumed 
the right of banishing this unpopular minister, who letired to the 
imperial dominions ; but his influence continued to regulate Uie 
measures of state. 

3. A change ensued on the king's coming of asje, 1,652. De 
Retz and Orleans, the chief promoters of the rebellion, were ban- 
ished, and IMazarin resumed his station as minister. Conde had 
j(^ined the Si)aniar(!s in an attack on the French IVelherlands, but 
was overmatched by Turetinc, who revenged this insult by the taking 
of Dunkirk and several Ibrtilied towns under the Spanish govern- 
ment. By convention wilh Cromwell, Dunkirk had been ceded lo 
the English, nnd afterwards sold lo France by Charles II., as has been 
related. 



220 MODERN HISTORY. 

4. The war with Spain ended in 1 ,659, by the peace of the Py 
ronees. Many cessions were made on both sides, but France kept 
Roussillon and part of Artois. It was stipr.lated that Lewis XIV. 
sliould marry the int'anta, daughter of" Fhillp IV., but should renounce 
all right wiiich might thence open to the crown of Spain. 

5. The treaty ol'the Pyrenees gave peacfe to the south of Europe. 
The wars in the north between Sweden, Poland, and Denmark, 
which arose after the abtlication of Christina of Sweden, were termi- 
nated in the year following by the treaty of Oliva. Christina, a sin 
gular, but not a great woman, held the sceptre of Sweden ior tuen- 
ty-lwo years after the death of her lather, Gustavus Adolphus. At 
length, tired of the cares of government, and affecting a passion for 
literature and philosophj, she resigned the crown to her cousin, 
Charles X., in Ifibl. Soon after this event Casinier king of Poland 
was induced by age and sickness to abdicate the throne, alter an hon- 
ourable reign. 

6. Mazarin died in 1,601, and Lewis XIV. entered on a vigorous 
and splendid career. The finances, w.'iich from the time of flein y [V. 
had been in extreme disorder, were admirably regulated by Colbert; 
and the commerce and miin'ifaclures of the kingdom, wisely en- 
couraged by government, were soon in the most tlourisiiing situation. 
The canal" of Lauguedoc joined the b.iy of Biscay and the Med- 
iterranean; the princi|)al sea-porU were enlarged and fortified; and 
the internal police of the kingdom was regulaily and strictly enforc- 
ed. At the same time the arms of France aided Enghuid against the 
Dutch. Geianany against the Turks, and Portugal against Spain. 

7. On the death of Phiiip l\ ., Levvis, pretending that Spain had 
failed in payment of tiie dowry of his queen^ besieged and took Lisle, 
with several other fortified towns of I'landers; and in the next cam- 

f>aign made himself master of Franche-Comte. Lewis marched with 
lis armies, but the glory of these conquests was owing to Turenne 
and Vauban. The triple alliance formed by England, Holland, and 
Sweden, checked this career, and brought about the treaty of Aix- 
la-Chapelle, 1,068, by which Lewis, though he retained i'landcrs, 
restored Franche-Comte, and contirmeil the peace of the Pyrenees. 

8. The strength and prospefity of the kingdom continued to 
increase under the able administration of Colbert and Louvois. The 
civil factions of Jiolland between the stadtholder and the party of 
the De Wits, templed Lewis to undertake the conquest of tliat coun- 
try. England, Germany, and Sweden, favoured his views. He 
o\erran the provinces of Utrecht, Overyssel, and Guelderlnn.1, and 
advanced almost to the gates of Amsterdam, when the Dutch inun 
dated the country by letting in the sea, and the French were forced 
to retreat. 

9. The confederate powers now became jealous of the ascendan- 
cy of Fiance; and the prince of Orange had sufficient influence 
with England, and both l)ranches of the house of Austria, to obtain 
their alliance in aid of the republic. The arms of Lewis, however, 
contir.ued to be successful, and the peace concluded at Nimeguen, 
in 1,078, was much to the honour of France. Franche-Comte was 
assured as a part of her dominions, and Spain allowed her right by 
conquest to a great proportion of the Netherlands. 

10. Notwithstanding the peace, Lewis, with the most culpable 
insincerity, seizetl Strasburg, and secretly assisted the Hui.garians 
and Turks in their attack on the imperial dominions. Vienna must 
have fallen into the hands of the Turks, if it had not been seasonably 



MODERN HISTORY. 221 

relieved hy the victorious arms of John Sobieski king of Poland, in 
1,683. 

11. One of the weakest and most impolitic measures of Lewis 
XIV., was the revocation ot" tlie edict of Isantes, granted by Henry 
IV. for the toleration of the protestmUs. Wkile tlieir woi-ship was 
suppressed, their churches demolished, and their ministers banished, 
the protestant laity were forbidden, under the most rigorous penal- 
ties, to quit the kingdom, 1,685. France, however, by this measure, 
lost above 5U(),UUU of her most industrious and useful subjects ; and 
the name of Lewis XIV. was execrated over a great part of Europe. 
Not long after this time a similar excess of intolerant bigotry pre- 
cipitated James U. from the throne of Britain, and forced him to seek 
an asylum from the monarch ot' France. 

12. William prince of Orange, the inveterate enemy of Lewis, 
brought about the lengue of Augsburg, 1,686; and the war was 
renewed with France by Germany, Spain, England, and Holland. 
The French ; rms were still successful. Luxemburg deCtJiued 
William in the battles of Steenkirk and Nerwindeii; Noailles was 
victorious in Spain; and an army of 100,UU(^ French ravagcil the 
Palatinate, and took many of the most important towns on the Rhine. 
This was the crises of tli'e glory of Lewis, whose forlunes were to 
sustain the most mortifying reverse. 

13. Those various and most extensive military enterprises, how- 
ever flattering to the pride of the monarch, had been attended with 
enormous expense, and no solid advantage to the nution. The 
finances had tallen into disorder alter the death of Colbert, and a 
peace was absolutely necessary. I3y tiie treaty of Ryswick, concluded 
in 1,697, Lewis restored to Spaiu'all the con(piesls nr.ule in the two 
h'st wars, several towns to the emperor, the duchy of Lorraine to its 
duke, and acknowledged the right of William to the crown of Eng- 
land. 

14. The succession of the kingdom of Spain, on the expected 
death of Charles 11., wiliiout issue, was now the object of political 
intrigue. The emperor and the king of France had the only natural 
right of succession ; but William 111., of Engl;md, from llie dreiid 
of such an increase of power to either, proposed a treaty of partition 
-of the Spanish dom.iiiions, at home and abroad, between the elector 
of Bavaria, the daui)hin, and the emperor's second sen. Chiirles 11. 
chose rather to make his own destination, and appointed by will thai 
the duke of Anjou, second son of the dauphin, shoultl inherit Spiun ; 
on whose death without issue, it should devolve on the archduke 
Charles, youngest son of the emperor. 

15. On the deatli of Charles the duke of Anjou succeeded to the 
throne ot' Spain, in virtue of this settlemetit. '^J'he emj)* ror, tii.^ 
king of England, and the Dutch, proposed to se})arate from bi.~) 
crown the Sj^anish dominions in Italy. In this enterprise j)rince 
Eugene, son of the ccvuit de Soissons, commanded the imperial 
troops, an illusiilous renegade from France, of great prowess and 
mililnry skill. 

16. James II. of England died in 1,701 at St. Germain's, and Lewis 
gave mortal oti'ence to the government of that country liV acknowl- 
edging the title of his son. On the death of king \\ ii.Lim in the 
year lollowHig war was declared by England, lloiiand, and the em- 
pire, against France and Spain. Lewis XIV. was now in Ibe deciinc 
of lite. He had lost the ablest of his ministers and his greatest gen- 
erals. The finances of the kingdom were exhausted. The armies 

T2 



222 xV.ODEKN HISTORV. 

of his enemies were commanded by Engene and the duke of Marl 

borough, the ablest generals of" the age, and supported by the treas- 
ures of the united powers. Savoy and Portugal joined this formidable 
confederacy, to overwhelm both brandies of the house of Bourbon 
and place the emperors son on the throne of Spain. 

17. Marlborough took V'enio, Roremonde, and Liege. Eugene 
arid Marlborough defeated Tailard ana Marsin, with the elector of 
Bavaria, in the signal battle of Blenheim, l,7Ui. England and Ho'- 
land attacked Spain by sea and land. Catalonia, and Valencia were 
subdued in six weeks. Gibralter was taken by the English, ani 
has ever since remained in their possession, in the biAtle of Kami- 
lies, Marlborough defeated Villin-oy, and left20,U00 dead on the lieid. 
'1 he contest, at first doubtlui in Italy, ended alike disastrously for the 
house of Bourbon. The archduke Charles was in the mean tim ? 
proclaimed king at Madrid ; and Philip V. had serious IhougKts of 
abandoning Spain, and establishing his dominion in America. Bui 
the successes of the duke of Berwick, natural son of James 11., recov- 
vjred tor a while his desponding spirit, and even prompted bis grand- 
father Lewis to avenge himself on England, by aiding the bold but 
desperate enterprise of establishing tne pretended Jan.es on the 
throne of Britain. 

1 8. But France and Spain were daily losing ground. The pope 
had acknowledged the title of the archduke Charles; the English 
seized the Mediterranean islands ; and Lewis, fallen from all his 
proud pretensions, humbly entreated a peace, which was refused, 
unlcs- on the condition of dethroning his grandson with his own arms. 
He maintained for a while this unequal contest, and was at lengtli 
forced to propose terms equally humiliating ; the cession of all his con 
quests in the Netherlands and on the Rhine ; the acknowledgment of 
the archduke's title to the crown of Spain; and a promise to give no 
aid to his gramlson. But these terms were refused, and the inhuman 
condition still insisted on, that he should assist in dethroning his 
grandson. A last exertioii was made in Spain under the duke of 
Vendome, at the head of a prodigious army; and the victory ob- 
tained by the French at Villa-vitiosa restored Philip V. to the throne 
of Spain. His competitor, the archduke, soon after became em- 
peror, on the death of his elder brother. 

19. The intrigues of the cabinet of queen Anne, and the coming 
in of a tory ministry, changed the politics of Europe. It was re- 
solved to make peace with France and Spain, and the treaty was 
concluded at Utrecht in 1,713. It was stipulated that Philip king 
of Spain should renounce all eventual right to the ciown of France, 
anil Ills brother to the crown of Spain. The Dutch obtained an ex- 
tension of frontier, and the emperor a great part of Spanish Flr.nders. 
The English gained from Spain, Gibraltar anri Minorca, and from 
France, Acadia, Newfoundland, and Hudson's Bay, with the demolition 
af the harbor of Dunkirk. In the foUov.ing year, a peace was con- 
cluded at Rastadt between France and the empire. 

20. The conclusion of this peace after an honourable war, was 
the most memorable event in the reign of queen Anne, if we except 
the union of the two kingdoms of England and Scotland, in 1 ,706, which 
was brought about by the negotiation of commissioners mutually 
chosen, to secure the rights of each kingdom in the best manner for 
their mutual benefit. It was stipidated that both should be represent- 
ed by one parliament (Sect. LIX., § 8), that they should have the 
same privileges with respect to commerce, and that each kingdom 



f.]ODEKN HISTORY. 223 

should retain its own inu's and established religion. The succession 
to the crown was limited to the house of Hanover. Queen Anne, 
died on the 30th of July, 1,714. Lewis XiV. died on the 1st of 
September, 1,715, in the '78th year of his age. He was a prince of 
great vigour of mind, of good talents, though unimpi^oved ])y educa- 
tion, of (iignilied yet amiable manners. His greatest fault was inor- 
dinate ambition, to which he sacrificed the real interests of his people. 
It was his highest honour, that he discerned and recompensed every 
spftcies of merit. France was in his time equally iilustrioiis by the 
great military talents of her generals, and by the splendour of liter- 
ature and of the arts and sciences. 



SECTION LXV. 

OF THE CONSTITUTION OF FRANCE UNDER THE MONAR- 
CHY. 

1. It is necessary for understanding the history of France, that 
we should have some acquaintance with its former monarchical con- 

. slitution : we shall thereibre briefly trace the progress of the gov- 
ernment under the different races of its sovereigns. The regal pre- 
rogative was extremely limited under the Merovingian princes. 
(Sect. II., III.) The genera! assembly of the nation had the right of 
electing the sovereign, and the power of legislation. Under the 
Carlovingian race the authority acquired by Pepin and Charlemagne 
sunk to nothing in the hands of their weak posterity ; and though 
the crown had ceased to be elective, the regal dignity was a mere 
shadow. The power of the state had passed into the hands of a 
turbulent aristocracy, ever at variance among themselves, and uniting 
only to abase the crown and to oppress the people. 

2. Under the third or Capetian race the crown acquired more 
weight, and many of the sovereigns exerted a proper spirit in re- 
straining the power of the nobles, and in punishing their lawless 
outrages. To balance the weight of the aristocracy PhiUp the fair 
introduced the third estate to the national assemblies, which for 
above four centuries had consisted only of the nobles and clergy. 
The chief power of the state began now to shift to the scale of the 
monarch. The national assembly interfered rather (o ratify than to 
decree ; and in the fifteenth century the right of legislation was under- 
stood to reside wholly in the crown. The right of taxation seemed 
to follow of course. The assemblies or states-genei-al were now 
rarelv convened, and from the reign of Lewis XIII. were discontinue<l. 

3. "But another power graduaily rose in the state, which in some 
measure supplied the function of the assemblies in limiting the royal 
prerogative. The parliaments were originally the chief courts of 
justice in the territory where they were established. The parlia- 
ment of Paris naturally claimed a higher respect and dignity than 
the parliaments of the provinces ; and, acquiring a right of appeal 
from their decrees, was considered as the paramount jurisdictioa, 
and the deposi'ory of the laws of the kingdom. The sovereigns of 
France, on first assuming the po;vers of legislation and taxation, pro- 
duced their edicts to be registered in the court of the parliament of 
Paris, and frequently consulted with its members on momentous 
aiiairs of state, as in questions of peace, war or alliance. Thus the 



224 MODERN HISTORY. 

nation began to regard the parliament of Paris as a body which 
shared tlie powers ol" government nilh the monarch, hi tlie latter 
reigns the parUamtnt availed ilselCof ihiil general o['inion, and made 
ft hoi i i^tand in opposing any arbitrary stretches ot" the kir.g''s author- 
ity, by refusing to veriiy ami regi-ter his edicts. 

4. But as this power of the parliament was in reality a usurpation, 
it was constantly a sufsject of dispute. The membei's of this court 
were in no sense the representatives of the j)eoplo, nor vested with 
any portion of the consiitutional authority of the national assemblies", 
'j'liey were in the king's nominalion, removable by him at pleasure, 
and even subject to entire annihilation as a Ixuly at bis command. 
L^ven without so violent a rem.edy, the sovereign could at any time 
frustrate their opposition to his will, by personally appearing' in the 
hall of parliament and commanding Ids edict to be registered. 

5. Yet a power thus easily defeasible had its advantages to the 
state, and operated ; s a considerable restraint on the royal authority. 
Considering itself as the guardian ol the public liberty, it remonstrat- 
ed against ail arbitrary encroachments oi" the crown, and by giving 
alarm to the nation, furnished an opposition suthcicntly powerful to 
obtain its ends. The provincial parliaments, though they likewise 
registered the royal edicts, never assumed any similar authority. 
They were oidy the chief courts of civil judicature. 

6. U'he king of France was therefore to he considered as an al»- 
soiu'.e monarch, whose authority was in some degree limite<l by the 
consuetudinary regulations of the state, and could not easily bec-me 
entirely despotic and tyrannical. The crown was hereditary, hut 
could not descend to a female, nor to a natural son. The royal rev- 
enue was partly fixed and partly arbitrary. The tixed revenue com 
pre.iemled the royal domains, the duties on wines and salt, the land 
tax, capitation tax, and gift of the clergy; the other arose from all 
other taxes which the monarch thought tit to impose, and from the 
sale of othces. Most of these duties were leased out to the liirmcrs- 
general. 

7. The Galilean church, though catholic, and acknowledging 
tlie spiritual authority of the pope, had greatly abridged his ancient 
prerogatives within the kingdom. The assembly of the church 
declared, in 1,682, that no temporal sovereign could be deposed by 
the pope, nor subjects absolved from their allegiance : it decreed the 
subjection of the pope to the councils of the church, and flenied his 
infallibility when in opposition to the canons of those councils. The 

Eope had no power to levy money in France without the royal 
cense. In short, the ecclesiastical authority was in all repects sul*- 
ordinate to the civil. 



SECTION LX\T 

OF PETER THE GREAT, CZAR OF MUSCOVY, AND CHARLES 
XII., KING OF SWEDEN. 

1. Two most illustrious men adorned the north of Eiirope in the 
latter part of the age of Lewis XIV., Peter the great of Muscovv, 
and Charles Xll. of Sweden. 

Russia is said to have received the light of Christianity in the 
lenth century, but its history is utterly unknown til! the middle of 



MODERN," HISTORY. Jg26 

the iifteenth. At that period John Basilowitz redeemed the empire 
from its subjection to the Tartars, and extended its limits. His suc- 
cessors maintained a considerable splendour as sovereigns ; but theii 
dominions were uncultivated, and their subjects barbarians. Alexis 
iMichaelou'itz, father of Fcter the great, >vas the first who pubhshed 
a code of laws, .-^t the end of the sixteenth century Siberia was 
added to the empire, which till that time had been bounded by the 
limits of Europe. 

2. I'eter, the youngest son of the emperor Alexis, became mas- 
ter of the empire in 1,689, by setting aside a weak elder brother, 
and banishing a factious sister who had seized the government. He 
was uneducated, and his youth had been spent in debauchery ; but 
his new situation immediately displayed his talents, and gave birlh to 
the wisest plans lor the imnrove^ment of a barbarous people. The 
army and navy demanded his first attention. He began by breaking 
the turbulent militia of the Strelitzes, and by degrees formed a regu- 
lar army of 12,000 men on the strictest model of discipline. He em- 
ployed some Dutchmen to build a small fleet, and made the first ex- 
periment of his arms in taking Azof from the Turks in 1,696. 

3. Having gained tiie little instruction which he possessed from 
foreigners, Peter resolved to travel in search of knowledge. Ap- 
pointing Le Fort, an able Genevese, his ambassador, he tiavelled 
as a private pei-son in his suite through Germany to Holland, and 
studied the art of ship-building, by working in the docks with his 
own tiands. Thence he passed to England, and in a similar manner 
acquired the knowledge of every art fitted for the improvement of 
his kingdom. The relative sciences were cultivated with tlfe same 
ardour and success ; and in sixteen months he returned to Moscow to 
reduce those important acquirements into practice. 

4. Regiments >vere raised and trained to exercise on the German 
model ; the finances arranged and systematized ; the church re- 
formed by new canons and regulations; the partriarchate abolish- 
ed ; and a much abused civil and criminal jurisdiction taken from 
the clergy. It was necessary to carry this reform even to the abo- 
lition of the national dress, and the suppression of ancient usages 
and habits of Ufe, innovations reluctantly submitted to, but enforced 
by absolute power. 

5. ^Vl^ile this greai genius was thus employed in new-modelling 
and polishing a barbarous empire, a competitor arose to dispute with 
him the sovereignty of the north, and to divide the admiration of 
Europe. Charles XII. succeeded to the throne of Sweden in 1,695, 
at fifteen years of age ; a prince whose singular heroism of character 
and extraordinary achievements have ranked him with the greatest 
conquerors of antiquity. The situation of his kingdom speedily 
brought his genius into display. Russia, Poland, and Denmark, joined 
in a league to seize and divide his dominions. The attack was 
begun by the Danes on Holstein, while the king of Poland invaded 
Livonia, and the czar, Ingria. Charles immediately landed an army 
on Zealand, at the gales of Co{>enhagen, and in six weeks forced the 
king to purchase the safety of his capital and kingdom, by laying 
down his arms, and making full indcuffiity to the duke of Holstein. 
He now hastened into Ingria, and at the battle of Narva defeated 
r.0,000 of the Russians, and took 30,000 prisoners. Such was the 
first campaign of Charles XIL, then a boy of seventeen. 

6. Poland was destined to receive a more humiliating chastise- 
ment Charles reducedCourland and Lithuania, penetrated bto the 



«26 MODERN HlSTOfiY. 

heart of the kingdom, and subdued (he capitals of Warsaw and Cra- 
cou'. lie then assembled the states, dec'aned king Augustiw de- 
posed, and signified bis pleasure that Staiiishuis, his own depenilant, 
should be elected sove-n'igii of Poland. The tactions ol' tiie king 
dom aided this revolution, and the nill ot' Charles was complied 
with. The deposed king retired to his electoral dominions of" 
Saxony. 

7. A ncgotmlion begun with tlie czar was abruptly terminated by 
Charles, who doclareil that he would negotiate only at INioscow. 
Entering the Russian dominions with 45,000 men, he was in the uay 
of' executing his threat, when he was induced, by a treacherous 
ptomise ot aid iVom the Coss;icks, to march through the Ukriine in 
the depth of winter. His army was wasted by fatigue and fnmine, 
when he was encountered by tlie czar at Pullowa; and the fate of 
Russia, Sweden, and Poland, hung upon that battle. Charles was 
entirely defeated: 9.000 Swedes tell in the field, and 14.000 were 
t;ikcn prisoners, 1,709. Augustus was restored to the throne ot 
i'ol and, and the czar took possession of Finland and Livonia. 

8. With the wreck of his army, reduced to 1,800 men, Charles 
retreated into the Turkish dominions, and formed a c;imp neiir Ben- 
dor. He endeavoured to prevail upou the grand seignior to arm 
against the czar, and succeeded alter a long negoliatiou. Two hun- 
dred thousand Turks took the field, and the czar's army, liir inferior 
in number, was surrounded, and, after ineni'ctual resistance, forced 
to capitulate to the grand vizier. The news of this capitulaticn de- 
stroyed all the hopes ot" Charles ; and his subsequent conduct seems 
the result of frenzy. The grand seignior having intimated his de- 
sire that the Swedes should quit bis terrilories, Charles fortified bis 
cjmip, and declared that be would defend it to the last extremity. 
After every means inefTectually tried to make him alter this resolu- 
tion, he was attacked by the 'Purkish arn)y, and taken fighting sword 
in fiand amidst a m.i^sacre of bis trn<^pg. 

9. In the mean time the czar and the king of Denmark were rav 
aging Swe<len. Charles I'elurned in disguise Avilb two of his othcers, 
to bis own dominions, and immediately conceived the design ol 
wresting Norway from Denmark. F;d!ing in the outset of this enter- 
prise, he was persuaded by Gortz, his prime minister, to att»"mpt to 
dethrone George 11., to seize a part of his continental dominions, and 
to phice the pretender James on the throne of England. This 
project was concerted between Gortz and .-\lberon>, prime minister 
of Pliilip V. The czar joine<l in the scheme, and made peace v\ilh 
Sweden ; but an unforeseen event broke all llieir measures. In be- 
sieging the Norwegian fortress of Eredei-ickshall, Charles was killed 
by a cairon-ball. on the 1 Ith of December, 1,718. 

10. Sweden gained by the death of Charles a reformation of her 
government, and a salutary limilalion of the arbitrary power of the 
sovereign. His sister Ulrica succeeded to the throne, and laised to 
it her husband, Frederick landgrave of Hesse-Cassel. 'I'lie states 
.nade peace with all the hostile powers. The czar was now engaged 
m a war with l'pi->i i, in the \ievv of obtaining the command and 
rorufjierce of the Caspian. Tbi, ol y-ci l.o accoinpli-bed, and gained, 
by cession from the sopl.i, lluve pru\iiices of ih-. t\ r.-i;m t,nipiiv. 

Peter the great died January 2i^ 1,726, and was succeeded tiy the 
czarina Catheriiie, formely a Livonian captive, who possessed merit 
equal to her elevated station. His only son, Alexis Fetrovvitz, had 
been condemned to lose his life for treason, and the mode of hia 



MODEliN JIISTORY, 227 

death, which immediately followed his condemnation, is unknown* 
Russia owes to Peter the great all those beneficial improvements 
vvhirii JKive raised her, within the period of a century, from barlju- 
ri^ni j'.iid obscurity, to the highest rank, among the powers of EuiopCj 



SECTION LXVII. 

A VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF SCIENXE AND LITERATLRE 
[N EUROPE, FROM THE END OF THE FIFTEENTH TO If IE 
END OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 

1. We have seen how much literature and the sciences were in- 
debted to the art of printinij for their a«ivancement and disseminjilion 
toward the end of the lil'teenth century. (Sect. XXXiV., ^ ]2.) 
From tliat period cl;i?sical learning, criticism, poetry, and liislorv, 
made a rapid progress in most of the kingdoms of Europe. Pldlcs' 
ophy did not keep pace with literature. The dogmas of Aristotle 
had kept possessioti of the schools till the seventeenth century, and 
liad engrafted themselves even on the doctrines ol" theology, ll 
required a superior genius to dissipate the mist of error, and to 
break the fetters on all advancement in useful science. Such was 
the great Bacon lord V'erulam, the most prolbund philosopher, and 
perhaps the most universal genius, that any age has produced. We 
tind in his works an estimate of the actual attainments in all the 
scienccSj a catalogue of the desiderata in each department, and a 
detail of the methods best suited to prosecute improvement and new 
discoveries. In fine, we owe to Bacon the sure method of advanc- 
ing in knowledge by experiment and the observation of nature, 
instead of system and conjecture. 

2. The pfiilosophy of Bacon produced its effect only by slow de- 
grees. Gassendi, though he exposed the doctrines of Aristotle, was 
still a theorist, and attempted to revive the atomic system of 1- 1 icu- 
rus. Des Cartes followed in the same track, and reared a wbtmsical 
theory of the universe, prcduced, as he supposed, by the forli ilf ua 
combination of atoms, moving in vortices tlinugh the inmcnj^iiy of 
space; a theory reconmiended by the ingenuity with whitli it was 
supported, and its apparently solving many of the pbeinn cna ol 
nature. A century before Copernicus had published bis s\ stem ct 
the planets, which, though condemned by the church, was received 
by Des Cartes and the best philosophers. 

3. Galileo, in 1,609, constructed telescopes (Sect. XXXIV., § 5), 
and discovered the satellites of the larger planets, .Ju| iter and Saturn, 
,nul their motions, for which he was rewarded by imprisonment, as a 
supporter of the Copeinican heresy. Kepler investigated the laws 
which regulated the motions of the planets, and the analogy letween 
their distances from the sun anil periodical revolutions. 'J'be discov- 
eries in astronomy led to improvements in r.'avtgation, and a gieat ad- 
vancement of geometry in all its branches. Isapier, in 1,614, ;d;ridg- 
ed calculation by the invention of logarithms. The Toricellian ex- 
periments determined the weight of the atmosphere. In 1,610 
Harvey discovered the circulation of the blood. 

4. The Royal Society, which originated from j)rivate meetings of 
tlie English philosophers, was incorporated by Charles II., in 1,662» 
and has greatly contributed to the advancem.ent of the sciences imJ 



228 MODERN HISTORY. 

useful arts. The Royal Academy of Sciences was instituted in 1,666 
by Lewis XIV. Similar institutions were founded in most of the coun- 
tries of Europe ; among which there is a commuuication of scuence, 
and a laudable emulation excited by the publicaiioa of theii transac- 
tions. 

f). In the end of the seventeenth century arose the immortal Newton, 
who, by exhausting the most important discoveries of the laws of na ' 
ture, has rendered it impossible tor posterity to ecHpse his fame. He 
had discovered, before the age of tvveaty-Tour, the theory of universal 
gravitation, a principle which solves the chief phenomena of nature, 
and connects and regulates the whole machine of the universe. His 
theory of light and colours is the tbundation of the whole science of 
optics, and his Principui the basis and elements of all philosophy. 

6. Locke, tlie contemporary of Newton, successfully apphed lord 
Bacon's mode of investigation to the study of the human mind ; and, 
utterly rejecting the systems of the old philosopliers, examined the 
soul by attending to its operatioos. From the simple tact that all- 
knowledge is progressive, and that an iniant gains its ideas gradually 
through the medium of its senses, he drew the general conclusion, 
that tiiere are no innate ideas in tlie mind, but that all are either im- 
mediate perceptions conveyed by the senses, or acts of the mind re- 
rtecting on those perceptions ; a conclusion ^vhich has been obstinate- 
ly coutroveried, chietly by dravving li'om it false consequences, but 
which has never yet been shaken. 

7. The^progress of literature in the sixteenth and seventeenth 
centuries Hvas equally remarkable with that of science and philoso- 
pliy. Trissino was the first of the moderns who composed an epic 
poem in the language of his country, L'ludia liberata da Goti^ ami 
the lirst Italian who wrote a' regular tragedy, Sopkonisba. Of merit 
much superior to the epic poem of UVissino is the Lusiad of tiie 
Portuguese Camoens, a work abounding with passages of high poetic 
beauty, and displaying a subhme imagination. In the end of the six- 
teenth century Spain produced the Araucana of Ercilla, an epic poem 
of great inequality of merit, but frequently exhibiting novelty of 
figures and bold conceptions. The subject is a revolt of tiic Tcru- 
vians against the Spaniards. 

8. But the principal epic poems of this age are the Orlando Fa- 
1-ioso of Arioslo, and the Gicrusulemiae Liberata of Tasso: the former 
11 work most irregular ia its plan, most unconnected and desultory in 
its conduct, most extravagant and absurd in tbe ciiaracters of its per- 
sons, but displaying alternately every excellence of poetry in the 
various departments ot" the descriptive, comic, satiric, moral, and 
sublime. The Gierusahmme of Tasso, cf a regular plan and perlect 
polish in its structure, has been frequently brought in comparison 
with the equally highly finished poem of the JLneid; nor does tne 
Itauan suffer much in the comparison. There is a z-omantic charm 
both in the incidents and characters of his poem, which must ever ren- 
der it a favourite with all readers of genuine taste. 

9. From the time of Tasso the genius of epic poetry lay dormant 
for a century, till the days of Milton; ibr the Fairy Queen of Spenser 
is rather a romantic allegory than an epic poem. The Faradiie Lost. 
compared with the great poems of auticpiity, is more irregular and 
less perfect as a whole th;m the Ihad, JKiieid, and Odi;ssey ; but ex- 
hibits, in detached parts, more of the sublime and beautiful than any 
of them. It hcis been well remarked, that the inequality of this poem 
arises in a great measure from the nature of the subject of which 



moj.»er:n history. 229 

Some parts are the most lofty which can enter into the human mind, 
and others could only have been supported U- n laborious elegance 
and polish, which the authors genius could not stoop to bestow. 

10. Lyric poetry was cultivated in the sixteenth century, in Italy, 
France, and li^ngland, but with no great success. The less" poems of 
Ariosto and Tasso have no tincture of the genius displayed in their 
greater works. Chiabrera is perhaps the only lyric poet of this 
period that merits distinction. In France, Ronsard and Bellay imi- 
lated Petrarch with all his false wit, but without his passion. IVIarot, 
nowever, in the naivete and easy vein of his liumour, is justly ac- 
counted tlie master of La 'Fontaine. In the beginning of the seven- 
teenth century French versilication received a considerable polish 
from the compositions of Racan, and yet more from those of iVlal- 
bcrbe ; and toward the end of that century lyric poetry was cidtivat- 
ed with high success by LaFarre, Chapelle, and Bachaumont, Chaur 
lieu and Gresset. 

11. The English lyric poetry of the sixteenth century, of Spenser, 
Surrey, Harrington, Sydney, and even Shakespeare, is harsh and 
uniiarmonious; nor is much improvement discernible till the time of 
Cowley and Waller. The merit of Cowley as a lyric poet was too 
highly prized in his own age, and is underrated in ours. With all his 
lalse \vit, pedantry, and obscurity, he is often both sublime and 
pathetic in no moderate degi-ee. The lyi'ic ode in the third book of 
the Davideis has few parallels in the English language. As a prose 
writer, Cowley shines in that c;ge \vith superior excellence. Waller 
is more polished and harmonious than any of the preceding or con- 
temporary poets, but his wit is quaint, and his elevation too irequent- 
ly bombast. 

12. Dry den, in tlie end of the seventeenth century, carried lyric 
poetry to'perfection. His Ode on St Cecilia's day surpasses all the 
lyric compositions both ef ancient and modern times. He shines 
conspicuously as a satirist, possessing the keen and caustic wit, with- 
out the indelicacy, of Juvenal or Horace. His versions from Chau- 
cer and Boccacio are easy and spirited, and display a happy talent 
for poetical narrative. His numerous dramatic pieces, though exhib- 
iting botii invention and poetic beauty, are deficient in true passion, 
and in the just delineation of character. 

13. At the end of the sixteenth centurj- the drama in Em-ope be- 
gan to furnish a rational entertainment. At that period. Lope de 
Vega and Calderonain Spain, and Shakespeare in England, produced 
lliose pieces, Avhich* though irregular and stained with blemishes, 
are at this day the admiration of their countrymen. The Spanish 
plays of that age have been a rich mine for succeeding dramatists, 
botti among the French, Italians, and English. The merits of Shakes- 
peare are liimiliar to every person of taste. Ignorant of the rules 
of his art, he is the pure child of nature, ;,nd thus exhibits often her 
caprices and absurdities; but these are redeemed by the most trans- 
cendent beauties. The old English dram.a is, with all its irregular- 
ities, incomparably superior to tlie modern, both in touching the pas- 
sions and in displaying just views of human character. The persons 
are more discriminated by various and appropriate features, and the 
nicer siiadcs of nearly resembling characters are thus more distinctly 
marked. Tlie mixture of the comic and tragic in the same plot, 
th->ugh condemned by modern practice, is a great source of pleasuie 
in the pieces of Shakespeare and his contemporaries; nor is there any 
thing in such a mixture but what is consonant to nature. To a per- 



230 MODKllN jMSIORY. 

son of true taste it will be found often to heighteri, by conlrasi, the 
capital emotion to be excited. 

14. The compositions for the French stage, in the end of the 
seventeenth century, are strictly conformable to dramatic rules; 
and many of those pieces are models of a correct ann polished ta-sle. 
Tlie moraUty of the French drama of tiiat age and llie next is in gen- 
eral purei than ours; but their pieces are deficient in the nice delin- 
eation of character, and in the power of exciting the passions, 
(^rneille and Racine brought the French tragedy to its highest ele- 
vation ; as Moliere the comedy. Corneille has more grandeur and 
rublimity than his rival, who excels him in the tender and patlielic, 
Tlie comedies of Moliere, highly amusing in the present time, were 
more particularly valuable in the age when they were wrillen, and 
had a sensible efiect in correcting its prevailing lollies; the pedantry 
of the ladies, the ignorance and quackery of the physicians, and tiie 
pride and arrogance of the French noblesse. The last of the en.i- 
nent dramatists who adorned France in the seventeenlii century Avas 
the elder Crebillon, who drew many sublime and impassioned scenes 
from the source of terror ; and who, in all his works, was as emi- 
nently the friend of virtue as liis worthless son has been the pander 
of vice. 

15. The most eminent historians of the sixteenth century are, 
Dc Thou, Daviia, and Machiavel. De Thou has written the annaU 
of his own time, from 1,545 to 1,G07, with great judgment, arid in 
most elegant Latin composition. The history of J3avila, the annals 
of the civil wars of France in the time of the league, though the 
work of a partisan, fe composed with no common degree of candour 
and impartiality. In the beginning of the sixteenth century r»lachia- 
vel wrote his History of Florence, of which the style is classical and 
tlie matter well arranged, but too much interrupted by rellections and 
pohlical discussions. In the seventeenth century Bentivoglio com- 
posed his History of the Civil Wars of Flanders, with the most ac- 
curate knowledge of his subject, perspicuity of narrative, and ele- 
gance of style. Among the English historians in the beginning of 
tlvat period Raleigh is the most distingrdshed ; though his History of 
the World is, in point of style, inferior to the jiuignicnt shown in (he 
arrangement of the matter. In the latter part of the seventeenth 
century, Clarendon"'s History of the Rebellion is a work oi' the high- 
est moVit, whether we consider the authenticity of the facts, the deep 
knowledge of human nature displayed in the delineation of Uic 
characters, or the grave and manly eloquence of the style, It, in 
the opposition of political opinions," he has been deemed too partial 
in d'^i'enr.e of his sovereign, even his adversaries have admitteil liis 
perfect integrity, and entire conviction of the rectitude of the cause 
which he supports. 



HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 



SECTION I. 



A GENERAL VIEW OF THE HISTORY OF MANKIND IN THE 
PRIMEVAL AGES. 

i. Iv contemplating those great outlines of history, the memorable 
an.i important events which have_ determined the condition of man- 
kind, and rendered the aspect of the moral and intoliectnal work] 
such as we now view it, we shall find abundant subjects for observa- 
tion and reliection. In many cases we shall be obliged to have re- 
course to conjecture, founded on different degrees of probability ; 
and some of thosa probabilities may be so corroborated by general 
existing circumstances as to amount almost to certainty. 

2. Of the primeval state of mankind we know little "from historical 
information, and can Ibrm an opinion of it only from conjecture 
founded on the nature of things. From the extremely slow progress ol 
civilization it is reasonable to suppose that men must have existed a 
long time before they began to write the history of such transactions 
and events as they deemed most important. All their care and atten- 
tion would at first be employed in providing the means of supplying? 
their physical wants, and of rendering their existence tolerable. In 
that state of simple nature they would not think of transmitting an ac- 
count of their actions to posterity, and could hardly have any oc- 
currences worth recording. Here our knowledge of human nature 
and of human wants will supply the deficiency of history. From 
the experience of our own wants, and of the means of supplying them, 
we may infer almost with certainty, that habitations would be built as 
a shelter from the inclemency of the weather: and in fact we find 
this to be the case in all those countries which are at present occupied 
by savages. In process of time some attention would be given to 
the cultivation of the soil, to make the earth produce such vegetables 
as were fit tor the food of man. The arts most essential to the com- 
fortable existence of the human species would be invented before 
the use of letters. 

o. From all these circumstances we may reasonably suppose that 
the first rude sketch of history would be the traditionary tales de- 
livered from father to son through successive generations ; and these 
in reality constitute the basis of the first historical records. Such are 
the fabulous relations of the first historians among the Greeks. It 
appears that the Greeks had adopted the. historical legends of the 
Egyptian priests, who were accustomed to cover their religion and 
learning with the mystical veil of allegory ; and thut in many cases 
they mistook the Egyptian mode of allegorizing the early periods of 
history, and have presented to posterity an absurd and monstrous 
tissue of tabulous narrative of kings who never reigned, and of heroes 
of celestial descent 



«32 MODERN HISTORY. 

4. Supei-stition being natural to man before the mind is enlightened 
by philosophy, it is no wonder that the writings of the first historians 
contain many relations of the communication of gods and demi-gods. 
with mankind, and of the frequent interference of supernatui'al 
agents in human affairs. The vivid imaginations of the early Greek 
authors, heated Avith superstition, and unrestrained by philosophy, 
expanded into wild exuberance, and fabricated- the most absurd and 
ridiculous tales. Hence the period of time which elapsed between 
the establishment of political and civil society in Greece, and the 
Trojan war may be justly denominated the fabulous age ; and indeed 
most part of what is related concerning that war, has evident marks 
of fiction stamped upon it ; for all the historical accounts of it are 
originally founded on the poems of Homer. No writings can claim 
the title of an authentic history of Grecian affairs before the Per- 
sian wars. The histories of all other heathen nations were not less 
Jabulous and absurd than those of the Greeks ; and indeed all that 

we know concerning them has been transmitted to us through the 
. medium of Greek writers. 

5. When we consider the general state of the world in the early 
ages, with respect to political, commercial, and literary communica- 
tion, however we may amuse ourselves with perusing the accounts 
transmitted to us of the transactions of remote antiquity, reason tells 
us that they are nothing but fiction or historical romance. Until 
the Greeks (who were the inventors, or at least the improvers of 
arts and sciences) had attained a considerable degree of civilization 
and opulence, and had begun to cultivate the arts of conveniency, 
luxury, and elegance, little credit is due to profane history. This 
period cannot be fixed long before the first Persian war, which hap- 
pened about 503 years belore the birth of Christ. For inlbrmation 
relative to the state of mankind, and the events which occurred 
before that period, we must have recourse to the writings of the 
Jews. 

6. This consideration naturally leads us to turn our attention to 
those ancient records of the Jews, which have always been deemed 
sacred by them, and of wliich the authenticity has been acknowl- 
edged by the generality of mankind, who have perused them with 
due attention. The Jewish annals are tiie most ancient of all that 
have been transmitted to us, and the mcst intrinsically rational and 
probable. They likewise contain a series of transactions and events 
equally curious and interesting, hi tliem we find the only rational 
account of the creation of the world, and the beginning of things; 
of the dispersion of mankind, and the origin of ancient nations. 



SECTION II. 
SUMMARY VIEW OF JP:WISH HISTORY. 

1. The Israelites, or ancient Jews, were those distinguished peo- 
ple, who were favoured by the immediate care of the Alm.ignty, 
and conducted by his especial guidance to Judea, a place of resi- 
dence promised to their remote ancestoi-s. in consequence of their 
obstinacy, idolatry, and wickedness, and more particularly lor the 
rejection of their Messiah, they vvere subdued by the Romans, after 
sustaining a siege in their metropolis, Jerusalem, unparalleled in the 



MC'DERN HiSTOllY. 2'3i 

nnnal? of history for its distresses, calamities, and slaughter. Jerusa- 
lem was reduced to ruins, the Jewish government was totally sub- 
verted, and the surviving people were dispersed over most parts ot 
the world. Their descendants still remain unmixed with the rest 
of mankind, and are marked hy their original featui'es of national 
peculiarity : they adhere with the most zealous attachment to the 
religion of their forefathei-s, and cherish the hopes of restoration to 
tiioir former prosperity and countiy by means of a glorious and tri- 
umphant Deliverer. 

2. They preserve," with the most watchful care, the sacred books 
of their ancient writers. And astonishing, va-y astonishing it is to 
observe, that in the prophetical j^arts jf these sacred hooks are contained 
all tlic events before nier.tionecl cf their extraordinary history. Their 
p-ar*icular condvict, and the vicissitudes of their national aliairs, were 
predicted by their prophets, and more especially by Moses, their 
great law-giver, in the infancy of the world, at the vast distance cf 
thirty-three centuries from the present times. The accomplishment 
of tliese predictions bears the tallest and most striking evidence to 
the truth and inspiration of their prophets, and illustrates the dis- 
pensations of Providence to his chosen people. 

:i. These sacred books contain likewise predictions the most exact 
of the character, oflice, and actions of the Messiah of the Jews, the 
great Law-giver o*'the christians, the appointed Saviour of the world. 

4. Such interesting circumstances as these, in addition to the pfv 
cnliar nature of the Jewish polity, considered as a divine institution, 
the curious manners and customs, and tlie memorable actions of the 
descendants of Abraham, the most ancient people of whom we have 
any authentic accounts, combine to place these books iirst in order 
of'importance, as in order of time. If we consider the great antiqui- 
ty, the subjects, and the characters of the writers, of these boolcs, and the 
place which they occupy in the order of general history, partirular- 
iy as they stand connected with The christian revelation,' they will be 
found to deserve our very earnest attention. 



SECTION III. 
THE ANTIQUITY OF THE SCRIPTURES. 

1. No writings of any other nation can be brought into competi- 
tioi:, in respect of antiquity, with those of the Jews. In proof of 
this assertion it may be remarked, that Moses liA'cd more than a 
thousand years betore the age of Herodotus, who is reputed the 
father o." Grecian history. As another proof of the priority of the 
Jews to the Greeks, it appears by the confession of the Greek wri- 
ters, that they received the letters of their alphabet from the Phoe- 
nicians : and there are very sut^tic'snt grounds for believing that Ine 
Phoenicians derived the art of writing from the Jews. The learned 
and acute Porphyry, who was an equal enemy both to Jews, ynd 
christians, and much attached to the learning of Greece, candidly 
acknowledged that Moses, and the prophets who' immediately suc- 
ceeded him, flourished nearly a thousand years betore any of the 
Greek philosophers. 

2. The books which compose the canon of the Jewish scriptnreg 
have the concurrence of all antiquity in favour of their originality. 
They were delivered to the llebre\vs in their own language, with 

U2 ''dS 



S34 MODEllN HiSTOlli'. 

every mark of genuineness, by the pei"sons whose names iliey bear' 
and those persons, by recording contemporary events, constantly 
appealed to well known proofs of their regard to truth. The pro- 
plietical books in particular contain the evidences of their inspira- 
tion, as well as of the integrity and pieiy of their authors. The ex- 
ternal proofs are clear and strong, as well as the internal ; in conse- 
quence of which all these books have always been pi'eserved with 
the greatest care, and have been held in the highest veneration. 

3. It is no less curious than inipoitant to remark the traditions 
preserved in the pagan world, v/hich confirm the truth of the Pen- 
tateuch, or the five books written by Moses. The Chaldeans pre- 
served the history of their Xisurus, ^vho was the iNToah of Moses. 
The Egyptians asserted that Mercury had engraved his doctrine 
upon columns, which had resisted the violence of a deluge. The , 
Cninese historians record that Peyrun, a mortal beloved and protect- 
ed by the gods, saved himself in a vessel from the general inundation .; 
The Hindoos say that the waters of the ocean spread over the surface 
of the earth, except one mountain to the north; that one woman 
and seven men saved themselves on this mountain, with certain 
plants and animals. They add, in speaking of their god Vishnou, that 
at the deluge he transformed himself into a fish, and conducted the 
vessel which preserved the relics of the human race. 1'his vessel 
is likewise a subject of tradition in the northern parts of the world. 
Sulivan's V^iew of Nature, Letter G7. 

4. That the sacritice of animals was necessary to appease the 
oflended gods, was a religious tenet very general and veiy ancient. 
The account of the long lives of the patriarchs is contirmed by wri 
ters of various countries. Their primitive manners, and their 
mode of performing sacrifices, and ofleriiig prayers to the great Au 
thor of nature on the summits of mountains, and in the retirements 
of groves, agree with the descriptions of Homer, and many other 
early writers. Zoroaster, the great teacher of the ancient Persians, 
derived from the books of Moses the first principles of his religion, 
his ceremonial laws, liis account of the creation, of the first parents 
of mankind, of the i)alriarchs, and particularly of Abraham, whose 
pure religion he professed to restore. 

5. In the attributes and characters of the heathen gods may be 
found allusions to the ancient expressions of the Hebrew scriptures. 
In the customs, laws, and ceremonies of many other nations may be - 
traced a resemblance to the Mosaical institutions, hi the accounts 
of th,;- deities of the Pagans, and the early heroes and benefactors of 
mankind, particularly in those which adorn the pages of Grecian 
history, are represented many of the patriarchs and illustrious per- 
sons of scripture. Many principles of the most eminent philoso- 
phers, many fictions of the most celebrated poets, both of Greece 
and Rome, and many institutions of the most renowned heathen law- 
givers, cannot fail, by tlieir circumstances of resemblance, to direct 
our attention to the great legislator of the Jews. The most venera- 
ble anvl ancient traditions of the workl seem to contain the parts of 
one original and uniform system, which was broken by the disper- 
sion of the primeval families after the deluge, and corrupted by ihe 
revolution of ages. They were the streams Avbich fiovved through 
the various countries of tiie earth, from the great source of Mosa- 
ical history.* 

* See Stiliingfleet, b. iii, r, 5 ; Bryraifs Mythology ; Maurice's Indian 
Antiquities •, Raleigli's Histoiy of tha World, p. 71. 



MODERN HISTORY. 2y& 

6. Josephus, the Jewish historian, flourished in the reign of the 
.emperor Vespasian. He was a person of great learning and emi- 
nence, and conducted his inquiries with singular diligence, industry, 
and care. He corroborates the testimony of the sacred writers, and 
illustrates their truth ; as he not only gives a regular detail of the most 
icmai'lwihle transactions of the Jews, but introduces considerable 
notices of all those people, witii whom they formed alliances, or car- 
ried on wars, in his treatise against Apion he exposes the contra- 
dictions which occurred in the Egyptian, Chaldean, and Phoenician 
records; vindicates the authority of the Jewish scriptures; describes 
the rare which was taken in their preservation ; and states their 
.superior pretensions, more particularly in point of antiquity, to the 
respect and reverence of mankind.* 



SECTION IV. 

THE SUBJECTS OF THE BOOKS, AND CHARACTERS OF THE 
WRITERS. 

1. The subjects of the books of the Old Testament are truly 
vonderful and' striking, and of such a nature as to surpass all monu- 
ments of profane lean.ing, equally in importance as in antiquity. 
Of all parts which compose the sacred canon, none are more curioua 
than Gc?jcs!>, the llrst book written by Moses ; because it contains a 
sketch of the earliest history of mavikind. There stand recorded 
the creation -of the workl and its hihabitants, the fall of our tirst pa- 
rents from their state of innocence and happin-ess, and their banish- 
ment from the garden of Eden ; the repeated and signal promises of 
a future restorer of the lost blessings of mankind; the history of the 
pa(riarcl;s, iionoured by the revelations of Jehovah ; the description 
of ihe general deluge ; the dispersion of the progenitors of the hu- 
man race over all the earth ; the adoption of a particular family to 
perpetuate the remembrance, arid establish the worship of the true 
Got!, and their prosperous settlement in Egypt. Instances indeed are 
mentioned of early depravity, and of the violence of the passions, 
attended with suitable punishments; yet society appears under its 
simplest form in point of manners, and we discern no traces of the 
luxury and talse refinement of subsequent times. 

2. In the books of the Jev»s is recorded an account of the descen- 
dants of Israel ; a race ol'men selected from ail others, and favoured 
with successive revelations of the divine will. Here are shown the 
instances of their fidelity, per\ erseness, and disobedience : their 
glory and triumphs ; their disgraces, and their subjection to foreign 
powers. Here is seen the superintendance of a divine and especial 
Providence watching over innocence, suspending wrath, and taking 
the most signal vengeance upon unrepented oS'er.ces. Here are 
developed the failings of the most virtuous persons, and the obdurate 
wickedness of confirmed sinners. Here are displayed the mixed 
chai-acters even of the most excellent men, the eminent examples oi 
faUh and piety, of courage and patience, in the conduct of Abraham, 
Lot, Job, Joseph, Moses, David, Hezekiah, Josiah, and Demiel. 

* Ketfs Interpreter of Prophecy, vol. i, p. £00. Larduer, vol. vii, p. 
30, '259, Sic. 



236 MODERN HlSa^OKY. 

And most interesting is it to observe, that the knowledge of the 
OIK! inie God was comrnvnicated to this people, and preserved by 
them alone ; that they had_ the most sublime ideas of his nature 
and attributes; that a magnificent temple was erected to his honour; 
a res^niar service was instituted ; holy ceremonies were performed; 
an order of priests of one particular family was consecrated ; a pure 
worship was established by his express command, ana regulated by 
his particular laws. Thus were the Jews enlightened by a knowl- 
edge of the true object of divine worship; and thus were the purity 
and holiness of their religious ordinances conducted, at a time when 
all other nations presented a wide scene of gross superstition and 
mental darkness ; when the rest of the human race, and even the 
most intelligent and polished nations of Kgypt and Greece, showed 
the most abject degradation of their nature, by prostrating them- 
selves before idols of their own workmanship ; and abused the evi- 
dence of sense, and the iaculty of reason, by imputing to wood and 
stone the attributes of divine power. 

3. We see likewise a succession of prophets raised up among the 
Jews, to communicate the divine will, to warn them of evils, and to 
announce to them blessings to come. These holy men, ever obedi- 
ent to the call of Heaven, rose superior to all worldly considerations; 
and v.'ith a spirit of intrepidity and independence, which clearly 
showed that Heaven was the source of their reliance, they executed 
their sacred commissions, unawed by the threats of kings, or the 
resentment of the people. They foi'etold remote events in times 
when they appeared moi^l im.probable ever to take place, and when 
no human foresight, and no calculation of chances, could guide them 
to the disco^^v'ery of the particular affairs, which fulfilled their pre- 
dictions. Moses, in a long and most interesting detail of threats and 
promises, foretold the exact manner in which his people were ordain- 
ed to be happy or jr.iserable, according as they followed or disobeyed 
the divine laws. At a subsequent period, when Jerusalem was laid 
in ruins, and the Jews were groaning under the sorrows of the Baby- 
lonish captivity, Isaiah solemnly addresicd Cyrus by his name, more 
than a hundred years before his birth, as the deliverer of Israel, and • 
the new founder of the Holy City.* When Babylon was shining in 
tb.e meridian of its glory, and its monarchs ruled over all the nations 
of the east ^vith tlie most despotic sway, the same prophet predicted 
the total subversion of their empiio, and the complete desolation of 
their vast metropolis. That all these and numerous other predictions 
\v.!re exactly verified by the events, arc truths confirmed by the evi- 
dence of profane as weil as sacred history. 

4. The same inspired prophets had a much more grand and im- 
portant object in view, than to de:!are the future dispensations of 
Providence to one nation in particular; for they announced, in terms 
at first dark and mysterious, but progressively more clear and cir- 
cumstantial, the future birth of a Mos?iah, a glorious king, a divine 
legislator, who was to abolish the sacrifices and religious institutions 
of the Jews, and to proclaim and es'.ablish a general law for the 
observance and happiness of all matdiind. Here the evangelists ccn. 
tribute their aid to illustrate the declarations of the prophets, and 
unite the history of the Old with that of the New Testament, ia 
tlie most close and indissoluble bonds of union. 

* Isaiah, B. C. 757. Cyrus, B. C. 5G9. Kelt's Interpreter of Prophecy, 
vol. j. p. 130. 



MODERN HISTORY. 231 

5. The historical books of scripture, considered from the time of 
the giving of the'law to Moses to the reformation in the worship and 
government by Nehoiniah, after the Babylonish captivity, contain a 
summary account of tlie Jewish affairs for a period of eleven centu- 
ries.* They were evidently not intended to give a complete detail 
of national transactions, as their vvriters had a more sublime and im- 
portant end in view. To illustrate the prophecies, by relating cir- 
cumstances which existed at the time when they were uttered, and 
to show their accomplishment ; to record various revelations of the 
divine will, and to describe the state of religion among the llebi'evvs, 
and the v:irious dispensations of Providence, in pMblic as well as ia 
private occurrences, seem to have been their chief olijects. Hence 
it is that the chain of history is sometimes broken into detached parts, 
and its detail is mterrupted by a recital of private thmsactions. The 
books of scripture occasionally assume the form, and comprise the 
be<iuties of a very interesting kind of biography. Of this nature are 
the several accounts of Job, Ruth, and Esther ; but they are far from 
being unconnected n ith the principal design of the sacred vvriters ; 
inasmuch as they show that the same divine Providence which presid- 
ed over the nation at large, extended its particular care to individ- 
uals, and that the examples of private virtue were inseparable from 
the great interests of public vvellare and happiness. 

6. The Israelites, tor many ages separated from the rest of man- 
kind by their peculiar institutions, were little acquainted with com- 
merce, and made sm;iil advances in those arts, which, with a retinc. 
ment, and a diversity of employments, introduce luxury and corrup- 
tion of manners, lliey were governed by equal laws, and possessed 
nearly equal property. They admitted no hereditary distinction of 
nujk, except in favour of the regal tribe of Judah, and the sacer- 
dotal lamily of Levi. Their occupations from the earliest times were 
of the most simple kind, and consisted in pasturage and agriculture. 
To guide tlse plough, and tend the liock, were employments which, 
recon)mended by the innocence of primeval manners, and dignitied 
by length of time, were exercised by kings, prophets, and generals. 
Moses was called from tiieding his Hock, to conduct the Israelites to 
the promised land ; Elisha forsook the plough, to be invested with 
the mantle of prophecy ; and Gideon left the threshing-tloor, to lead 
the army of his country to battle. 

7. The country of J udea presented a scene diversified by truit- 
ful vallies, barren rocks, and lofty mountains, and was watered by 
numerous streams. It produced the palm-tree, the balsam, the vine, 
the olive, the iig, and all the fruits which abound in the more tem- 
perate regions of Asia. From the labours of the field, and from cul- 
tivating the vine, the attention of the Israelites was regularly called 
by religious worship, which was intimately blended with the civil 
constitution of the state. The splenJoui of their public services, the 
pomp and magnificence of their rites and ceremonies, the stated re- 
currence of their various festivals and sacrifices, the sabba.th, the 
passover, the celebration of the sabbatical year, and the jubilee ; and, 
more than all, the constant experience of divine interposition, filled 
their minds with the most awful and grand ideas, and gave them the 
deepest impressions of the majesty, power, goodness, and justice of 
God. 

*' Moses, B. C. 1,571. Nehemiah. B. C. 546. Gray's Key to the Old 
Testament, p. 124. 



238 JEWISH HISTORY. 

0. These were the circumstances which, combining to form their 
national manners, had the greatest inlluence upon their writings. 
The hisiorical style is marked l»y the purest siinpiiciiy of ideas, oc- 
casionally raised to a tone of elevation. In the works of J\Ioses tliere 
is a majesty of thought, which is most strikingly expressed in piiiin 
and energetic language. In the prophetical writings the greatest 
splendour and sublimity of composition are conspicuous. They are 
enriched by those glowing images, and raised by that grandeur ot 
diction, which charm the classical reader in the most admired pro- 
ductions of Greece and Rome. The royal psalmist is eloquent, dig- 
nified, and pathetic. All the beauties of composition unite in ls;dan, 
such is the majesty of his ideas, the propriety, beauty, and feriiiily 
of his imagery, and the elegance of his laiiguag*^, employed upon tiie 
noblest subjects which could possibly engage our attention. Jere- 
miah excels in those expressions of tenderness, which excite, with 
the most pleasing enthusiasm, the feehngs of compassion. 

9. By such peculiar beauties of composition are recommended 
the most interesting details of events, and the most faithful deline- 
ations of characters. The great Creator calls all things into ex- 
istence with his omnipotent word. I'he first parents ot' mankind, 
innocent and happy, are blessed with his immechate converse, and 
enjoy the blooming groves of Paradise. Joseph, the pious, the ' 
chaste, and the wise, after having undergone great afflictions, and ' 
rising by his extraordinary merit to an olhce of the highest honour 
in the court of Pharaoh, discovers himself in a manner the most 
pathetic to his repentant brethren, and is restored to his aged and 
affecticnate father, whom he invites into Egypt to share his pros- 
perity. The children of Israel, guided by the divine Power, which 
veils its glory in a cloud, pass safely through the Ked Sea, in which 
the host of the impious Pharaoh are overwhelmed. Lpon the sum- 
mit of Mount Sinai Moses receives the two iables of the command- 
ments, amid the thunder, lightning, clouds, and darkness, which 
of)SCure the great Jehovah from his eyes. The royal psalmist sings 
tile wonders of creation, the powers of his God, and his own ile- 
feats and triumphs. The peaceful and prosperous Solomon, whose 
renown was extended over all the east, rears the structure of the 
magnificent temple ; and amid the multitudes of his adoring sub- 
jects consecrates it to the service of the one true God, in a prayer 
which equally attests his wisdom and his piety. In the visions of 
futurity Isaiah beholds the dehverance of the 'chosen people; the 
complete destruction of the great empire of Babylon, by which 
they were enslaved ; and the promised Messiah, the Saviour of 
mankind, sometimes depressed by want and sorrow, and sometimes 
arrayed in the emblems of divine majesty and power. He predicts 
the final recal of the Jews to their native land, and the wide dilfu- 
sion of the christian faith. Jeremiah sinks a weeping mourner over 
the ruins of his native city, deplores its calamities, and consoles his 
countrymen by expressly declaring, that they should never cease 
to be a nation to tlie end of the world. Daniel explains to Bel- 
shazzar the mystic characters inscribed upon the walls of his palace, 
and views, in his wide prospect of future times, the fates of the lour 
great empires of the world. Cyrus, long before announced by 
Isaiah, as the great subverter of the Babylonish empire, and the 
restorer of the glory of Jerusalem, publishes his decree for the 
restoration of the captive Jews; and the holy city and teirule 
rise from their ruins with new grandeur an<l magnificence. Th« 



JEWISH HISaY)RY. 239 

Jews are settled and reformed by the pious care of Nehemiah. and 
the canon of the scriptures is closed by Malachi. This last of the 
prophets enjoins the strict observance of the law of Moses, till the 
great Precursor should appear, in the spirit of Elias, to announce 
I'he approach of the Messiah, who- was to estabhsh anew and an 
everlasting covenant.* 

10. Such are a few of the interesting circumstances contained m 
the books of the Old Testament, which engage our attention, charm 
our imagination, and gr.-itiiy our curiosity, while they contirm our 
belief in the great evidences of revelation. In all these works 
we may remark the bright truths of religious instruction, shining 
forth amid the venerable simplicity of the most ancient history ; a 
history unrivalled for the grandeur of the ideas \yhich it conveys, 
the liveliness of its descriptions, and the number of its beautiful and 
subhme images. 

11 . In these books of sacred history there is an impartialiiy ot 
narrative, which is an undoubted characteristic of truth. If we 
read the Lives of Plutarch, or the History of Livy, we soon dis- 
cover that these writers composed their works under the influence 
of many prejudices in favour of their respectives countries. A veil 
is thrown over the defects of their heroes, but their virtues are 
placed in a strong light, and painted in vivid colours. In the scrip- 
tures, on the contrary, both of tne Old and the New Testament, the 
strictest impartiality prevails. The vices of David, Solomon, and 
their successors, are neither concealed nor palliated. There is no 
ostentation of vanity, no parade of panegyric ; virtue charms witli 
her native beauty, and vice requires no disguise to conceal her de- 
formity. The characters of persons are sketched, and the effects of 
the passions are represented without reserve or concealment; and 
tlie moral to be drawn from each description is S8 obvious, as to ac- 
count for the frequent omission of remarks and applications. The 
abject condition of the Je^vs, when prohibited the use of weapons of 
war by the victorious Philistines ; their relapses into idolatrj', their 
perverseness of disposition, and their various defeats and captivities, 
with every circumstance of j^rivate as well as public disgrace, are 
recorded wilhont palliation or reserve. Always rising superior to 
the motives wiiich induce other authors to violate the purity and de- 
grade the majesty of truth, these writers keep one great and most 
important end constantly in view, and show the various methods by 
which the providence of God efi'ected his gracious designs; how he 
protkiced good trom evil, and employed the sins and follies of man- 
kind as the instruments of his gracious purposes 

IJ. An acquaintance with the affairs of the Jewish nation forms 
the first luik in the chain of ancient records. Thus v,'e may observe 
the connexion which subsists between the branches of sacred and 
profane hitlory. We place the works of pagan writers in their 
proper situation, and give them additional value, by making them 
suifservient to the cause of i'eligion. and instrumental in the illustra- 
tion of revealed truth. If the sindent is not called upon by profes- 
sional inducements to read the scriptures in their original languages, 
he niay rest contented w^ith translations; and it seems to be a well- 

* For Ihese very impiessive passagres of the Bible, see Gen. i, ii, xliv, 
xlv ; Exod. xiv, xx ; the I'sahiis ; 1 Kings viii ; Isuiah ii, vi, ix, x, xi, xiv, 
xxviii, xxxii, xl, xliii, Ix, Ixi, Ixiii, Ixv, and more particularly liii ; La- 
ment, i, &;c. ; Daniel v, vii ; Ezra vii ; Nehern. siii ; P.Ialadii iii. iv. 



210 JEWISH HISTORY. 

founded opinion among the learned, that he may rely with confidence 
upon the j^enerai tjdeiity of our English version. 

SECTION V. 
OF THE ANTEDILUVIAN WOULD. 

1. An authontic account of the creation of the world, and of the 
primitive state of mankind is to be fmind only in the bible. There 
we are informed by Moses, the most ancient of all historians, that in 
the beginning God created the earth, the celestial bodies, and all 
things both animate and inanimate ; that he created one man and one 
woman, named Adam and E\ e, and p!:Ked them iu a ganien or para- 
dise, situated in the land of Eden. According to the best chroiioio- 
gers the rieation of the worhl was accf>niplished in the year 4,004 
A. C. Adam r.nd Eve soon transgressed the commands of God, and 
were therefore expelled trom their delightful abode. 

2. Adam and Eve had two son«, whose names were Cain and Abel. 
Cain, the elder, was a husbandman, and Abel was a shepherd. Cain 
was of a vicious, Abel of a virtuous disposition. H-ince the worship 
of Abel was more acceptable to the Loi-d than that of Cain. Insti- 
gated by envy and malice, Cain killed his brother when they were 
tuxgother in the tield. For this atrocious crime he was severely pun- 
ished by the Lord, and became " a fugitive and a vagabond upon the 
earth." 

' 3. After the murder of Abel, another son, named Seth, was born 
to Adam. From this time the descendants of Adam multiplied rapid- 
ly, and at lengtli spreail over the face of the earth. 

4. One of ttie most remarkable circumsfances of the former world 
is the longevity of the people. Adam lived 'Jr30 years, Seth 912 
years, Jared 9u2 years, Methuselah 969 years, Noah 9bO years. 

5. In process of time mankind became so wicked that the Lord 
was resolved to destroy them by a deluge. Amid the general cor- 
ruption and depravity of the human race one virtuous man was found 
Noali, the son of Lamech, zealous for the reformation of men, be- 
came a preacher of righteousness to the ilegenerate and viciou* 
people among whom he lived, and employed both his council and au- 
thority to reclaim them ; but in vain. And God commanded Noah to 
build a great ship, called an ark^ and to put in it his wi!e, his three 
sons antl their wives, and also a faw males and iemales of every spe- 
cies of living things, that they might be saved Irom the general del- 
uge which wordd shortly overwhelm the whole earth, and extirpate 
ail creatures. The tiood continued 150 days, and then gradually sub- 
sided. Noah and his family, and all the anifuals. went out of the 
ark (2,343 A. C.) ; and in process of time they multiplied and spread 
over the surface of the earth, as we now see them. 

, 6. Of the literary and scientific attainments of the antediluvians 
we know very little. From the Mosaic account they do not appear 
to have been great. Moses has brielly informed us what was the 
oiigin of various customs and arts, and has recorded the names of 
their inventors. Lamech the son of Cain gave the tirst example of 
polygamy. Cain built the first city, and introduced the use of 
weights and measures. One of Cain's grandsons " was the father of 
such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle." Jubal invented 
music ; Tubal Cain the arts of forging iron, and of casting brass ; 
and a woman called Naamah the arts of spinning and weaving, 



JEWISH HISTORY. 241 

Their religious rites were few and simple. They worshipped God 
by prayer, and sacrifices of certain animals. 



SECTION VI. 
FIRST AGES AFTER THE DELUGE, 

1. 'J'he remembranc^of the three sons of Noah, the first foun« 
ders of the nations of the earth after the deluge, has been preserved 
among the several nalionLS descended irom them. Japhet peopled 
the greater part of the west, and continued long famous under the 
name of Japetus. Ham was reverenced as a deity by the Egyptians, 
under the title of Jupiter Hammon. The memory of Shem hiis 
always been venerated by his descendants, the Hebrews, who de- 
rived their name from his son Heber. 

2. Except the building of the tower of Babel no event of impor- 
tance occurs in the hi~!ory cf ]\Ioyes during the space of nearly 
1,10U years from tlie deluge to the call of Abraham. About 100 
years after the deluge the descendants of Noah were become nu- 
merous at the foot of Mount Ararat, and in the plain of Shinaar, ex- 
tending along the banks of ti)e Euphrates and the Tigris. They 
found that the country was not extensive enough to contain them 
much longer, and therefore that they must separate. They agreed 
to build a very high to\ver, whicii might be a signni of union, if they 
should ever desire to return to their native country. When (hey had 
raised the tower to a certain height, the workmen suddenly perceiv 
ed that they did not understand the words of one another, and thai 
fd! spoke diiTerent languages. Consequently it was impossible to 
continue the work, and the people dispersed in different directions. 
Hence the origin of difierent languages, and the- dispersion of the 
human race over the habitable globe. 

3. Soon after this memorable event, Nimrod, a violent and impe- 
rious man, built the city of Babel, or Babylon, and laid the founda 
tion of the first great em})ire, called the Babylonian, which waa 
altervvards so famous in the history of the Jews. 



SECTION VII. 
OF THE JEWS. 

1. The Jews derived their origin from Abraham, the son of Terah, 
the tenth in lineal descent from Shem the son of Noah. The de- 
scen(laiils of Shem spread from Armeni;i, \yhere the ark is supposed 
to have rested after the deluge, to Mesopotamia, and thence into 
Chalilea, where Abraham was born. As Abraham was appointed to 
be the progenitor of a great and distinguished nation, God separated 
him from the other descendants of Shem, by causing Terah to re- 
move from Clialdea into the country of liaram, near the borders of 
INlesopotamia, wlipre he died. Abraham intended to settle in Haram, 
but in obedience to the will of Gvd^ he removed into the land cf 
Canaan, which was appointed to be the inheritance ol' his posterity. 
From this period commences a long series of events, which are re- 
corded in the book of Genesis, and are represented as immediately 
directed by the Lord. 

2. After Abraham arrived in Canaan, his brst care was to erect an 

X 81 



242 JEWISH HISIXJRV. 

alt'rti for the worship of God, who appeared to him, and confirmed 
the promise which he had belbre made to iiim, to give the country 
to his children. When he had hved some time in Canaan, a lam- 
ine compelled liini to remove liis lamiiy into Egypt, (l,9)tj A. C), 
where lie resided till the famine CL'ased, and then returned. Hi* 
wife Sarah, when ?lie was advanced in years, hrought iiim a sen., 
who was called Isaac. When Isaac grew to man'si estate he marrie J 
!\checca, who wits afterward the mOiiier of .facoli. in process of 
time Jacob had ten sons, u'!)0 were the fithot'sof leu frilies. Ijy (he 
command of the Lord, Jacob took the name of Israel, and hence hi? 
]>osterily were called Israelites, or the children of Israel. 

3. JosL'ph, the ninth son, was the fa\ ourile of his father, which 
excited the jaalousy and hatred of liis elder brothers, who sold hiiTi 
to some merchants, and told Jacob that lie had been devoured hy 
wild beasts. Tlie merchants carried their slave into Egypt, uritl 
sold him to Potiphar, an ollicer of king Phanioli's guard, l,7'24 A. 
C. Josepli served I'otiphar with sucii diligeixe and iidelily, tliat he 
soon committed to liim the care oi' his domestic affairs. 

The \vi!'e of Potiplrar repeatedly attempted to seduce Joseph into 
the gratification of lier amorous propensities ; l)ut her immodest ad 
vances being rejected with disdain, she was incensed, and malicious- 
ly accuse<l liiai of an attempt to violate lier chastity. On this false 
accusation he \vas immediately thrown into prison, but was soon 
iibei'ated by the king. Sucli is, in ail ages and in ail countrie.-j tlie 
vindictive disposilion of a lascivious woman, whose allurements nave 
lioen neglected or resisted. The disappointed wanton prosecutes, 
with everlasting enmity, the innocent object of lier carnal desi:es ! 

4. Joseph, being skilful in the interpretation of dreams, was intro- 
duced to Pharaoh king ol' Egypt, wlio was perplexed by tuo dreams 
rtiiich lie could not explain. Joseph interjjreted Jiis dri'ams, w!ii(Ji 
I redicted abundant products of the earth I'cr seven years, and after 
Hard a dreadtul faniine ibr seven years, lie was released from pris- 
on, and appointed to conduct the affairs of l^gypt under Piiaraoli. 

5. In consequence of the famine with whicli Canaan was afllicted 
(as it [lad been foretold), Jacob and liis iiunily removed into Egypt, 
1,702 A. C. Joseph assigned them a residence in tlie land of Gosoen, 
a fertile country ht for pasturage, situated between tlie Isiie and the 
Keil Sea. In this happy country the descendants of Jacob increased 
and nourished, and became so numerous and prosperous that at 
length the envy and fears of the Egyptians began to be excited 
against them. To check llieir prosperity rigorous measures wei-e 
pursued by the rulers of Egypt. Tlieir "lives were imbittered l)y 
hart! ser\ ice, and all their male children were ordered to be drowned 
at tbeir birth. 

G. Till the time of their residence in the land of Goshen, the lie- 
In-ews had led a pastoral life, and had not been subject to any regular 
form of government. Ciiildren were obedient to their parents, and 
servanls to their masters. Religion appeared in its most simple and 
amiable form. One God, the Creator and Governor of the world, 
was worshipped without images, and without an established priest- 
hood. Equal purity in iiiith and worship, in principle and pnfctice, 
prevailed among tlie people, i^iut in proportion as wealth and 
usury increased, the religion of the Hebrews became more ■sensual. 
Like ail eastern nations they were prone to the worship of the heav- 
enly bodies. Priestcraft employed images, and ihe delusive lulitices 
of supei-stitioD to attract the devotion of the people. 



JEWISIJ lliSTORY. 2-13 

7. The history of the Hebrews, during the patri: rchnl ages, is 
Pclatcfl in the first book of Mcses, with ?impl'cily, minuteness, nm! 
aj)p;ireiit Hdelity. There we read a (icscripticn of aiieicnt ciu«tonis 
and manners in tlie lives of the patriarclis, Abrahan), Isaac, and 
Jacob. The story of Joseph and his brethren has been always 
iidmired for the simplicity of the language, and the affecting cir- 
cinnslances which it exhibits. As the; nnmercns f;icts and incidents 
in the early periods of tlie history of the Hebrews arc funiliar to 
every reader, and arc besides of little importance in the political 
annais of the nation, it seems snporflnous to enter irito a detail of 
them. We shall therefore next present a ccmpendions view cf the 
liistory of the (Hebrews from tlie period of their departure out of 
Egypt, 1,487 A. C. 

8. Affer n)nch oppression and suffering, God raised up a deliverei 
^of liis chosen people, who rescued them from a state of cruel servi- 
^tude, and brought them -)ut of the land of bondage. I'liis deliverer 

was Moses, the most distinguished personage of ancient times, bom 
1,567 A. C. In consecpience oi' Pharaoh's iniiuman decree, Moses 
was exposed by las mollier on the banks of the Nile, and was found 
by tbe king's daughter, wiio compassionately adopted him, and thus 
.saved his life. Before their departure from Egypt, and in their long 
and tedious journey of forty years through the wilderness, many 
extraordinary and supernatural events are recorded in the Bible, and 
ascribed to the miraculous interposition of the Lord in behalf of his 
people. Curing their wanderings in the desert, they received from 
their illustrious r.uido, with many other signal proois of di\ine I'avour, 
a system of religion and laws, under the sanction of God. 

5). The Mosaic code, though the most ancient that has been trans- 
mitted to posterity, contains the best maxims of legislative wisdcm. 
It is an admirable' summary of our various duties to God and man. 
and it enfbices the ol)servancc of those duties by the powerful mo- 
fivej of gratitude, hope, and fear. It directs our adoration to one. 
God, the author of all blessings; commands us to reverence his holy 
name ; iuid dei;ounces drea<lt"ul vengeance against those who shall 
transfer to idols, or to the creature, that worship which is due only 
»« the Creator. To prevent tbe neglect of those sacred obligations, 
it ordains a Sabl)ath every week, to be set apart for rest, and lor pious 
meditation on the works and the beneficence of God. Four of the 
statutes of the Mosaic code comprehend tlie principles of universal 
jurisp.rudence. 1. Thou shalt not kill. 2. Thou shall 7iot commit adul- 
tery. 3. Thm shalt not steal. 4. Thini shalt not bear false zrilncss. 
Tliey have formed the basis of criminal law in all civilized natic us, 
and are essential to the gooil order of society. They conclude vvitli 
an dm'.nition against avarice, the incentive to the commission of all 
oJfe.ices. 

ID. While Moses lived in Egypt he must have remarked the bane- 
ful effects of the abuse of unlimited power entrusted to priests. He 
fh(>retore wisely separated the sacenlotal jurisdiction from the civil. 
Tbe miiti*lers of religion were not allowed to interfere in scculai 
a(T;iirs. TMieir duties were confined to the worship of God ; and 
their civil authority extended no farther than to take cognizance o^ 
such offt'oces or trespasses as were immediately connected with re- 
ligious worship. The care and direction of all secular concerns were 
committed to the elders of the people, who administered justice un- 
der the control of a supreme magistrate, emphatically styled a 
judge. In the judge was vested all power civil and military. It ap- 



244 JEWISH iilSTOIlY. 

pears however that the high priest at length invaded the military 
prerogative ot' the judge. 

11. Sensible of the ignorance and perverseness of the people 
under his care, Moses omitted no precepts nor instriiclions which 
he thought might tend to inform their minds, to reguiate theii- con- 
duct, to correct their vicious propensities, and to promote their \vel- 
liire and security. He prescrilied rules for their diet, for 'he presei- 
vation of their health, and for the treatment and cure of tliost 
diseases to which they were most liable. Having conducted tlie 
Israelites through many dangers and didiculties williin siglil of the 
promised land, and appointed Joshua his successor, Moses died in 
1.447 A. C. 



SECTION VIII. 

THE HISTORY OF THE HEBREWS DURING THE GOVERNMENT 

OF THE JUDGES. 

1. This period is extremely turbulent and sanguinary; a period 
ol barbarism, ignorance, and anarchy. We know not certainly how 
the judges, were chosen, nor what was the extent of their power 
They appear to have been military chiefs, for they commanded 
armies, and some of them acquired fame by successful expeditions 
against the enemies of their country. 

2 The chiefs or rulers of the Syrian kingdoms, principalities, or 
townships, had chosen no common leader, or generalissimo, noi 
digested any regular plan of defence against the Hebrews, who had 
been long hovering on the frontiers of Syria, and betrayed hostile 
mtentions ; consequently many of these petty states on both sides 
of the river Jordan were subdued, and the inhabitants massacred, 
before any league was formed for their mutual defence. At le gth 
they became apprehensive of utter destruction from their tierce 
and cruel invaders, and a general alliance was concei'ted among tlie 
remaitung kings and chiefs of the country between the Jordan and 
the Mediterranean sea. Joshua twice attacked the combined army 
unexpectedly, and defeated it with great slaughter. Most of the in- 
habitants, except those who resided m impregn;d)le cities on the sea 
coast, were put to the sword, or compelled to tiee from the ven- 
geance of their enemy. Tlieir possessions were divided among 
the tribes of Israel ; and thus the victorious Hebrews conquered 
and occupied the southern parts of Syria, called J udea or Canaan, 
and still known by the name of Palestine. Joshua having on many 
occasions received miraculous assistance in the perilous conquest ol^ 
Canaan, and in the execution ot the arduous and important Oiiices ot 
a government of incessant activity and energy, died in 1,439 A. ('. 
leaving the Israehtes in the quiet enjoyment of the country which 
the Lord had formerly promised to Abraham and his posterity. 

3. After the conquest of Canaan the Hebrews did not continue 
long to observe and obey the institutions of Moses. They fell into 
apostacy and confusion. They were alternately harassed by intestine 
commotions, and reduced to temporary bondage by the nutions which 
they iiad before conquered. When relieved from the miseries ot a 
foreign yoke, they commonly became subject to the more grievous 
opi»ressions of domestic tyranny. But in the various ciianges of their 



JEWISH HISTORY. 24b 

manners and fortunes, it is remarkable that some of their gross- 
est idolatries, and severest alliicUons, liappened when the civii powei 
and the auihoiity ol" tlie piiesthood were exercised by tlie same 
pei-son. 

4. After the death of Joshua the Israelites were governed by elders 
about 2'j years. Then Ibilowed an anarchy ol" about^ i 8 years, during 
uhich tliey were engaged in many successful and unsuccessful wars, 
and were oUen rtduced to servitude. 

Afier the government of the Hebrews had continued with little 
interrupiiim, about ^95 years, under twelve successive judges, in the 
ibrm prescribed by Moses, Eli, the high-priest united in bis person 
those powers and functions which, before ids accession to the 
supreme magistracy, had been kept distinct. Eli appears to have 
been equally incapable of discharging the civil, the military, and tiie 
rei'gious duties of his high offices. The people fell into idolatry, 
and were subjugated by an ancient nation called the Philistines. In 
a great battle with the Fiiiiistines the army of the Hebrews was 
routed with dreadful slaughter, and the two proHigate sons of Eli 
were killed. The news of this disaster put an end to the lite of Eli, 
after he hal governed the Israelites Ibrty years. 

5. The next and last judgoof the Hebrews was Samuel the 
pro[)het, 1, 11 2 A. C. He brought bi'xk the people to a sense of then 
duty, and soon restored the departed glory of Israel by a great vic- 
tory over the FtHUstincs. They now recovered their liberty, and 
the cities which had been takeii from them in former wars, bamuel 
was inJetiiligable in the. administration of justice. When age had 
rendered him incapable of executing his laborious duties, he unite J 
his two sons with him in the administration of the government. 
I^ut their evil conduct offended the people, who complained to Sam- 
uel that his sons were nut worthy to succeed him as judges. I'hey 
demanded a king to govern them. Samuel therefore assembled the 
people, and explained to them the cxtrcn/e danger of changi.ig their 
ancient form of government to that of a monarchy ; but in vain. 
Ttiey persisted in their resolution, and a rrian named Saul was ap- 
pointed the lirst king of the Hebrews, after the government by 
judges had subsisted, with some intermission, about ^66 yeare, from 
Joshua to Saul. 



SECTION IX. 

RETROSPECT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE HEBREWS- 

1. The advancement of Saul to the regal dignity was the second 
change made in the constitution given by Moses. The common- 
vvealth was originally a tkcocrucy ; and the people acknowledged 
IjO other king but God. They pi.id respect to tlie priests, as the 
superintendents of his worship ; and th;y obeyed the judges, as 
the interpreters of his laws, and the delegates of his power. The 
succession to the priesthood was fixed, being made hereditary in 
the family of Aaron. The ofhce of ruler, or judge, being apparent- 
ly left to the appointment of God, and determinable neither by the 
choice of the people, nor by lineal descent, gave access to disturbances 
violence, and intrigue. Moses prevented any public commotion by 
naming and consecrating a successor to himself. 
X2 



?46 JEWISH HISTORY. 

2. After the death o/ Joshua intestine divisions, or rather a spirit 
of licentiousness and rapine, threw the nation into i state of anarchy 
and confusion. As this disunion and civil disorder exposed them to 
the invasions of the a(l_yicont states, military talents and success were 
regarded as infallible proofs of divine favour, and conferred upon any 
person so di'^liijguished, the title and authority of judge. Gideon 
obtained many signal victories over the Philistines, the inveterate 
enemitis of the Hebrews, and enriched his soldiers with plunder. 
Out of gratitude for his services, the people offered to make him 
and his posterity their rulers. Though he declined iho name of 
judge, yet he retained the power, and appropriated to himself the 
most valuable part of the spoils of his enemies. His natural son 
Abimelech succeeded to the othce of judge by force and violence. 
Sacred history does not inform us how the next two judges obtained 
their dignity. Alter them the supreme power was committed to o'le 
of Gilead's illegitimate issue, on account of his valour and military 
talents. Thus the othce of judge continued to Ihictuate till it was 
annexed to the high priesthood in the person of Eli, as has t)een re- 
lated. The death of his two vicious sons interrupted the succession 
in his line. The othce was lastly conferred on Samuel, whose un- 
just and rapacious sons were thought unworthy to succeed him. The 
people having received no permanent benefits from the administra- 
tion either of judges or of priests, resolved to appoint a king to govern 
them. This political innovation was the result of levity and impa 
tience rather than of mature deliberation. It neither gave stability to 
the new government nor prevented the evils of the old. 



SECTION X. 
REGAL GOVERNMENT OF THE HEBREWS. 

1. The reign of Saul began about 1,091 A. C. He was a shep- 
herd of lofiy stature. The bcg-nning of his reign was auspicious, 
and distinguished by a complete victory gained over the Ammonites, 
which made him popular among his subjects. But he incurred the 
displeasure of Samuel, the prophet, and his whole reign of 40 years, 
was a continued scene of foreign or domestic troubles. Being de- 
feated in a battle with the Philistines in 1,051 A. C, he killed him- 
self. 

2. Two candidates preferred their claim to the vacant throne, 
Ish-boshetb, Sard's son, founded his ])retensions on the right of im- 
mediate descent, and was supported by many of the tribes. David, 
a young shepherd, was famous for killing, with astone thrown from 
a sling, a Philistine named Goliath, a man of gigantic size and 
strength. He had likewise br'en privately anointed by Samuel 
before the death of Saul: and his title, as of divine api)ointment, 
was therefore acknowledged by the powerful tribe of Judah. A 
civil war ensued, which la.>^ted ahove seven years, and was terminat- 
ed by the assassination of Ish-bosheth. All the tribes now submit- 
ted to David, and the kingdom became hereditary in his fandly, 
though the right of succession >vas still unsettled, and was tran?fer 
able Irom one branc'i to another at the will of the reigning sever 
eign. This appears from Solomon's succession to the throne in 
preterence to his elder brother. 

3. The reign of David is illustrious and interesting. He enlarged 



JEWISH ULS'i'ORV. i-ll 

the boumls of Palest ne by conquest, took Jerusalem, which he made 
the capiuil of hisclorninions, and enriched iiimseil' and his subjects 
willi the spoils oi' liis enemies. He revived among the people an 
attachment to religion l>y the institution ot" solemn ceremonies : and 
he introduced a taste ibr the arts, by inviting into the country able 
mexhanics and artists for the completion ol" the grand edifices which 
he erected. 

4. The latter part of David's reign was unfortunate. The king- 
dom was ravaged by pestilence, ianiine, and disastrous wars. His 
mmii was harassed by domestic mislbrtunes. Some of his sons weie 
disobedient and wicked. His favourite son Absalom raised a rebel- 
lion with a design to dethrone his lather; but was defeated and slain 
David caused his son Solomon to be crowned in 1,011 A. C, and died 
in 1,010 A. C, having reigned seven years and a half over Judali, 
and 3? years over all Israel. 

5. The reign of Solomon presents a splendid view of the kingdom 
of Israel in the height of its prosperity, felicity, and glory, enjoying 
all the blessings of tranquillity in such a manner, and for such a 
length of time, as it never experienced in any former or subsequent 
period. It directed the councils of all the petty states between the 
Euphrates and the I\Iediterranean; and held the balance of power 
between the two great monarchies of Egypt and Assyria. Com- 
merce flourished in a degree which, at that early period of the world, 
must appear extraordinary. The fleets of Israel, under the direc- 
tion of Tyrian mariners, traded to the land of Ophir, which some 
suppose to be a distiict in Ethiopia, on the eastern coast of Atrica. 
To this country they probably went by the Red Sea. By their lu- 
crative voyages they augmented the wealth of th-j nation, which 
David had already enriched by the spoils of war. But this agreea- 
ble and prosperous condition did not continue lon^. Solomon, elated 
b}" unifoi'm prosperity, set no bounds to his magnificence and luxury; 
and laid heavy taxes on the people to enable him to support nis pro- 
fuse expenditure. These burdensome imposts created disalTeclion 
in the minds of his subjects, and toward the end of his reign gave 
rise to a powerful liiction, at the he.id of which was a hauglity and 
mipetuous young man called Jeroboam. 

G. The most remarkable event in the reign of Solomon is the 
biiilding of a magniticent temple at Jerusalem, which was completed 
(n about seven years. The plan had been formed by David, and 
materials, workmen, and money, provided for its execution. This 
was probably the most superb and costly fabric that has been erected 
in ancient times. 

Tiie wisdom of Solomon is proverbial. The books of Proverbs 
and Ecclosiastes are ascribed to him, either as ihe author or col- 
lector ; and abound \vith precepts and maxims that are applicable to 
every condiiion of lite. But notuilhslanding the superior knowl- 
edge tor which Solomon was so justly celebrated, he appears to have 
been immersed in sensual pleasures. He had 700 wives of dillerent 
countries and religions, beside 300 concubines ! The allurements of 
those voluptuous women led him Into efl'eminacy, and the excess- 
ive indulgence of the animal passions, and into'lbe negloct of his 
important duties to God and his people ; and their influence and su- 
perstitions at length drew him into idolatry. This illuslrious and 
renowned monarch reigned 40 years, and died in 971 A. C, without 
leaving any memorial of his power. 

7. With Solomon expired the gramleur and the tranquillity of the 



248 JEWISH HISTORY. 

Hi'lirews. Upon the accession of his son Rehohoam to the throne 
llie faction of Jeroboam broke out iato open rebellion, and tck-minat- 
ed ill th ' revolt of the ten tribes iroin their allegiance to the house 
of Davi.l. The tribes ofJiidah and Benjamin continued loyal to 
their lawftd sovereign. The revolted tribes elected Jeroboam for 
their king, ani the monarchy was split into the two separate king- 
doms of Israel and Judah, 97! A. C. 

8. The policy of Jeroboam produced a religions as well as a po 
litical separation. While the kings of Judah held th<^. temple where 
the sacritices were offered, and whither all the people were obliged 
to resort at stated times, they would always have an ascendancy 
over the kiflgdom of Israel. Jeroboam therefore thought it neces- 
sary to adopt some measures to prevent the frequent visits of his 
subjects to Jerusalem, the metropolis of the kingdom of Judah. 
Th^' priests, the Levites, and all who were concerned in the ministry 
of religion, were tirndy attached to the house of David; and Jero- 
boam supposed that they would naturally exert the inlluence which 
religion gave them over the minds of the people, to alienate their 
affection from bis governments and to bring them back to their alle- 
giance to their lawful sovereij;!!. To prevent the obvious conse- 
quences of the continuance of bis subjects in religious communion 
witii the house of David and kingdom of Judah, Jeroboam sacrificed 
the interest of religion to his political motives. He built a new 
temple, and instittited a new priesthood ; and thus produced a new 
schism among the toliowers of the Mosaical laws, w hich Avas never 
extinguished. Soon after this separation, the religion of the ten 
tribes under Jeroboam, deviating more and more from the original 
institutions of Moses, became a mixture of Judaism and Pagan idol- 
atry. 

9. After this memorable epoch in the history of the Israelites we 
find little more in their annals than such transactions and events as 
constitute the ordinary subjects of political records. The king-dom 
of Judah adhered with inllexible attachment to princes of the house 
of David ; but usurpations in the kingdom of Israel were common. 
The history of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah during a period of 
almost lOU years, till the burning of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnez- 
zar, may, with the exception of a few intervals, be called the an- 
nals of disunion, vice, wars, massacres, servitude, famine, and pesti- 
lence. In this long period of general wickedness an<l misery, one 
of the most remarkable events is a great battle fought betweeri 
Jeroboam and Al>ijam the successor of Rehohoam. The army ol" 
the former consisted of eight hundred thousand men, that of the 
latter of four hundred thousand. Jeroboam was defeated, and live 
liundrcd thousand of his men were killed in the battle.* 

U). At last the kingdom of the ten tribes was extinguished. The 
people \vere transported into Assyria, and dispersad into different 
parts of the country, whence they never returned. The common 
people who were 1ei\ in Canaan were intermixed with strangers; 
and from that mixture of different nations sprun.-r the motley race, 
which were al'terward known by the name of Samaritans. The 
sad catastroplie of the kingdom o'f Israel is desci-ibed bv the proph- 
ets in very pathetic terms. The infants and pregnant women were 
murderevl" with horrid barbarity. The men, who had not been slain 
in battle, nor had not escaped by llight, were dragged into bondage, 

* Tlie limits of this work do not admit a particular histoiy of the gene- 
rally uninteresting reigns from this period to the Babylonish captivity. 



JEWISH HISTORY. 249 

nn<l (heir country was divided .imonjij; the colonies of the conquerors. 
This event happened about 720 A. C, uller tiie ki-ngdom iiad sub* 
sisted iil'oiil '2y4 yeiirs. 

il. Tlie -tntleriiig kingdom of Jndah still continued to enjoy a 
|)fec;u-ioii.s existence ; inviuied at different times by tiie Bfihylouians, 
rendered Ifibwtary, an<i finally sidijiiiiated ; its metropolis and temple 
razed to their foiindalions by that mighty conqueror Nebuchadnez- 
/.:tr, 684 A. C. ; and all the pnucipal persons, and the must skilful 
artists of every kind, removed to Babylon. Thus ends the kirgdom 
of .Judea, after it had subsisted 468 years from the Legiiining ot' tlie 
reign of David, and 388 years from the separation ot Judah and the 
ten tribes. 



SECTION XI. 

RESTORATION OF THE JEWS TO THEIR LIBERTY AND 
COUNTRY. 

1. The privation of liberty, and the miseries of bondage seem to 
have l)rought the people of Israel and Juilah to a sense of their past 
transgressions. Unable to resist the power of man, they now placed 
thou- sole conlidence in the goodness and mercy of God. JNeither 
promises nor threats could induce them to abandon their duty, and 
worship the idols of the heathens. 

2. After they had lieen in captivity 70 years, Cyrus, king of Persia, 
having conquered Babylon, set them at liberty, and issued a decree, 
by which they wei'e permitted to return to their own country, and 
to rebuild Jerusalem and tlie temple, 543 A. C. He restored to 
them all the sacred uter.sils which Nebuchadnezzar had taken away 
from the temple. He laid down a plan of the new temple, and 
ordered that the expense of erecting it shoidd be paid out of the 
royal treasury. All who desired it were allowed to remain in their 
present places of residence, and to contribute as much as they pleas- 
ed to the holy edifice. 

it may be proper to observe in tliis place, that tlie Israelites wlio 
returned from the captivity of Babylon were then and ever after- 
ward called .7eu-5, bec;;use the tribe of Judah was the most power 
ful of all the tribes of Israel, and indeed almost the only one which 
was considerable after their restoration to their liberty and country. 

3. Many of the Israelites chose to remain at Babylon. Those 
who returned to Palestine be;^an the work of the temple with alac- 
rity and vigour. Its progress suffered a temporary obstruction 
through the intrigues of their enemies, and the caprice of Cyrus's 
immediate successors. But in the beginning of the reign of Darius, 
the decree of Cyrus in favour of the Jews was ratified, and many 
new clauses were added lor their effectual assistance and security. 
A particular charge was given to the governors of Syria and Sama- 
ria, tiot only to prevent any further obstruction of the work, but also 
to furnish supplies out of the tribu-le of those provinces for carrying 
it on with greater expedition ; and it was declared that all person.w 
who should act contrary to these mstruclions would be punished with 
death. 

4. Darius continued to manifest his favour for the Jews, during 
Ihe remainder of his long reign. I'heir privileges were confirmed 
to them by his son Xerxes. Their interest was still greater with 

32 



250 JEWISH HISTORY. 

Artaxerxes, the Ahasuerus of scripture, through the influence of hii 
queen Esther, a Jewess, ami also thi-oiigh the services of her uncle 
Mordecai, who had discovered ami frustrated a conspiiMcy against tlic 
king's life. From Artaxerxes, Ezra obtained very iil)crai donatior\s, 
to be applied to the service oi' the temple ; and lull powers to gov- 
ern the Jews as the divine will should direct. The like comrnis^-ion 
was also granted to Nehemiah, who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, 
and relbrmed many abuses both civil and religious. 

After these two we find no more governors of Juden, which prob- 
ably became subject to the governor of Syria, from whom the high- 
priests might immediately derive their authority, hi this prosperous 
state were the Jews about 420 years before the christian era. 

5. From this time we may ascribe most of the misfortunes- which 
befel the Jewish nation to men who aspired at the sacerdotal dignity 
through ambition and avarice more than zeal for religion. For 
whole centuries the office of high-priest was the chief object of men's 
ambition. The candidates purchased the oilice from the Syrian gov- 
ernors, and retained it by means of money. Hence they oppressed 
the people with taxes that they might tiiitil their pecuniary engage- 
ments. There was no energy among this degraded people, no dig- 
nity among the great, no foresight, no thought of pursuing proper 
measures against foreign invasion. 

6. About 328 A. C. Alexander the great besieged Tyre, and was 
incensed against the Jews, liecause they had refused to supply ins 
army with provisions during the siege. After the capture of Tyre 
he marched to Jerusalem with the intention of punishing the Jews 
for their disobedience of his orders. Jaddua the high-priest was 
ordered in a dream to meet the threatening conqueror iu his pontifi- 
cal robes, at the head of ail the priests in their proper habits, and 
attended by the rest of the people dressed in white garments. 
Alexander was struck with this religious pomp, and approaching 
the hi^h-priest with awful respect, embraced him with a religious 
kmd of veneration. He told his attendants, who expressed surpri-e at 
his submissive behaviour, that he did not pay this profound respect to 
the high-priest, but to the God whose minister he was. Alexander 
then went to Jerusalem, and offered sacrifice in the temple to the 
God of the Jews. Upon his departure he granted to the Jews the 
freedom of their country, laws, and religion, and exempted them 
from paying tribute every seventh year. During his whole reign 
they enjoyed great tranquillity ; but with him expired the prosperous 
state of their country. Judea was successively invaded and subdued 
by the Syrians and Egyptians, and the people were reduced to bon- 
dage. 

7. The Jews kept their sabbath so rigidly that they would not 
fight on that day, nor even defend themselves althoudi attacked by 
an enemy. Ptolemy king of Egypt, having invaded Judea, look ad- 
vantage of this rehgious Impediment. He entered Jerusalem on the 
sabbath-day without resistance, and carried away to Egypt a hundred 
thousand captives, 31 G A. C. 

Alter this time the Jews became the victims of foreign and domes- 
tic wars, and of horrid massacres. 

8. About 198 A. C. Antiochus the great, king of Syria, took 
Jerusalem, plundered the temple, sold 40,000 Jews to the neigh- 
bouring nations, and established paganism throughout Judea. 1 b« 
sacrilices ceased, and there scarcely existed any eitemal sign* o{ 
religion. 



JEWISH HlSTOllY. 251 

This persecution rou?!ed the resentment and provoked the resist- 
ance of a priest nnmed Mattathias, and his five sons surnamed Mac- 
raljeus. They all reliretl into the wilderness^, and were soon joined 
by a ftreat numher oiJews who wislied lo avoid idolatry and religious 
perse.vUion. An army wiif^ raised, of vvhicli tisc command was given 
lo the eldest son of Mattathias, named Judas Maccabeus. 

The dehverance of the Jews from the tj'ranny and oppression of 
the Greeks, by the uncommon talents, bravery, and patriotism of 
Jud.is Maccabeus, is an achievement as glorious perhaps as any per- 
formed by the most illustrious heroes of Greece and Rome. Having 
gained many signal victories, and delivered Ids country from bondage 
and idolatrj', he was at last slaia in biittle, 157 A. C. 

9. Tlie brothers of Judas, pursuing their advantages with perse- 
verance and exertion, established the independence of their country, 
and changed its republican government to a vigorous and flourishing 
monarchy. 

10. John Hyrcanns, son of Simon Maccabeus, uniting in his pei-son 
the ofHces of iiigh-pricsl and genenilissimo of the arrny, and possess- 
ing all the talents requisite for the pontincal, the military, and the 
regal olhces, vanquislied the enemies of his country, and lirmly estab- 
lished his government. His sons assumed the iitle as well as the 
power of kings; aiui the liigh-inicslhocd remained in his family, 
though not in the person of the monarch. The descendants of Hyr- 
caiuis are distiiif-'uislied, in the history of the Jewish nation, by the 
appellation of tlic Asmonean fyyiiaslij^ which continued about 126 
years. 

11. The unlucky dissensions of this family terminated ultimately 
in the conquest of Judea and the capluie ol" Jerusalem by Pompey 
the great, and the subjection of the' Jewish nation to the Romans, 
59 A. C. 

12. Alter this event the Jewish monarchy was re-established by 
the favour and under the protection of the Romans, who placed 
Herod tht: great, the son of Antipater, on the throne of David. 
Tliis prince demolished the old temple of Jerusalem, and rebuilt 
it ill a very m;igni.ficent manner. He reigned witii great splendour, 
but with singular despotism and tyranny. He possessed great abili- 
ties, but \vas cniel and unjust both in his public and private transac- 
tions. His public life exhibits a continued scene of battles, massa- 
cres, and violence, lie died in the tirst year oi" the birth of Christ, 
or tee tburth of the vulgar era. 

The reign of" Herod uas distinguished by a memorable event, 
which has proved n.iore important in its consequences than any that 
has occurred since \he creaiion of the world, the birii of Jesus Chrhf, 
the (lulhor of the chrislian religion. 

13. Soon afler the death of Herod, Judea was '■ reality reduced 
to a Roman province, and the governors were appointed by the 
emperors of licme. In this condition it rcmain/^d till the final ex- 
tinction of the Jewish nation in the year of Chrisi 75, or of the vul- 
gar era 72. 

The rapinp and cruelty o* Florus, governor of Judea, caused a 
rebellion of the Jews, in 'which 150,000 persons are said to have 
perished, 159 of Christ, or A. 1). (JG. 

The violent and sanguinary fitlions among the Jews destroyed in- 
credible numbers of people of all ranks. 

14. At length the Jewish nation was extinguished by the Romans, 
and its metropolis reduced to ashes by Titus the Roman general. 



262 JEWISH HISTORY. 

The last siege of Jerusalem was attended with scenes of carr.age, 
famine, disease, and desperatipii, far more horrible th;in any to be 
found in the annals uf human wickedness and misery. Dnrinjg; llic 
calamitous progress of the siege, Titus displayed many instai'.oc-s of 
Humanity toward the sidferings of the besieged, and ol'jiis solicitude 
for the jireservation ol" the city and temple; hut In viiiii, Their 
dooin was predestinated by the irrevocable degree of the Almighty, 
The magnificent temple of the Jews perished in the general wreck 
of the nation, and not one stone was left upon anodier, '«5 ol" Christ, 
or A. 1). 72. 

According to a moderate calculation the number of poi'sons who 
perished by violent deaths during the last war in Judca amounted to 
more than one million tour hundred thousand, besides many who died 
ol' grief and famine. 

yjnce that time the descendants of those who survived tlie dissolu 
tion of the Jewish nation have been wandering about the wcrid, 
the objects of hatred and contempt rather than of kinilness and com 
miseralion. hi all countries where they liave been permitted to 
reside, they have been excluded from the participation of certaiti 
political privileges which the people of those countries enjoy. 



SECTION XII. 

THE STATE OF LEARNING AND COMMERCE AMONG THE 
JEWS. 

1. Of all the interesting prospects which history opens to our 
view, the progressive advancement oi" the liuman mind, in the im- 
provement of its faculties, is the most agreeable, and the most 
worthy of our attention and regard. The brilliant and destructive 
exploits of conquerors may dazzle for a while; but the silent labours 
of the student and the artist, of the aichitect and the husbandman, 
which embellish the earth and convert it into a paradise, cooler per- 
manent benelits on mankind, and promote their prosperity and hap- 
piness. The arts and sciences distinguish the civilized man from the 
savage ; and the investigation of their origin and progress would 
constitute the noblest attribute of history. How unfortunate it is, 
that the ancient historians have almost neglected so interesting and 
pleasing a subject. xMl the knowledge which we can obtain concern- 
ing the origin and progress of learning must be gleaned from uncon- 
nected fragment" and sciittered notices, laboriously collected from 
a multifarious and confused mass of trivial particulars. 

2. The period of the scriptural iiislory includes the whole space 
of time from the creation of the world' to the subversion of the 
Babylonian monarchy, or about 3,457 years. During this long suc- 
cession of ages a great variety of political, civil, anil religious in- 
stitutions had been invented ; the human mind had been mucli im- 
proved in some countries; agriculture had been skilfully pnictised; 
the auriace of the earth had been adorned ^v•iLh large cities and 
stately edifices. Of these interesting subjects, tew particulars have 
been faithfully transmitted to posterity, except such as relate to .iew- 
ish laws and institutions, some scattered hints- respecting ancient 
commerce, and some excellent specimens of writing in the Prophets 
and Psalms. In those venerable monuments of antiquity, the sacred 
writings, we trace the Israelites from the patriarchal ages, through 
the turbulent times of barbaric ignorance, to a considerable degree 



JEWISH HISTORY. 253 

of civilization an*^ refinement. Of their civil and religions institu- 
tions we liave a clear and explicit account ; of tlieir Icnou ledge of 
tlie art!" and sciences we possess little information. Tlie Jews do not 
seem to have been a scientiiic or philosophical nation in any period 
of their history. They appear to have been sulhciently skiifui in 
the aits of necessity and coiiveniency ; but not to have irade mucti 
pro.'iciency in those of luxury and ornament. Some admiral le speci- 
mens of literature are presented in the scriptures, especially in the 
writings of the Prophets, and in the Psalms. In the liistorical books 
we observe plainness ol style and conciseness of narrative, and un- 
common perspicuity in the didactical pieces. The writings of tlio 
prophets are chielly poetical, very different, and all originals. Most 
of them display sublime sentiments, expressed with energy of diction, 
and decorated with oriental imagery. 

3. In the patriarchal ages commerce was do far known and exer- 
cised that gold and silver were used as the medium by which it was 
regulated, in the tumultuous times which succeeded the patriarchal 
we obtain very little information concerning the state of commerce. 
We have no reason to think that commerce was ever in a tlourishing 
state among the Jews. In times of remote antiquity the mechanic 
arts and various kinds of manufactures had mad*^ considerabie prog- 
ress in some countries. This is manifest trom the curious and ricti 
materials of the tabernacle and of the high-priest's garments. The 
Israelites, no doubt, brought from Egypt much of their knowledge 
of arts, sciences, and literature; for the Egyptians had, (rom lime 
immemorial, been gradually advancing in learning a. d civilization; 
and, during the greater part of the period now under contemplation, 
were famous for the excellence of their civil policy, the extent and 
population of tlieir cities, the magnilicence of their public cdi' 
tices, and the nourishing state of agriculture. In all these respects 
tlie Egyptians were distinguished above all the contemporary aativiis 
of antiquity. 

CONCLUSION. 

1. In taking a retrospective view of the various nations which 
have successively appeared and tlourished upon the grapd theatre 
of this world, and have at length vanished and sunk M^ obUvion, 
their rise, progress, and decline, arrest our attention, sfid excite our 
curiosity and compassion. The ignorance, avarice, wickedness, and 
ambition of mankind may be assigned as the general causes oi the 
dissolution of nations. Many of those kingdoms and states once so 
great and tlourishing have not only disappeared, biit even their names 
and all remembrance of them must have perisMj " they liad not 
been preserved and perpetuated in the iiist-'Jcal records ol scrip- 
ture. In them, however, we behold the t^nsilory and tadmg splen- 
dour of all human glory, and a dimir^'ve picture of every thing 
which the world calls great; as ^mence of genius and learning, 
military honour and fame, ext-'i ot power and dominion, political 
wisdom, the faculty of eloqn-'ce., ima ly, we draw this sad conclu- 
sion, that history is littlp more than a dismal record ol the crimes 
and the calamities of ''^e human race !* 

♦ For a very ca'^'^"* ^^^ useful chronological table of the history of 
the Bible see C«™et'8 Dictiouary of the Bible, vol. II. This table is aa 
epitome of «ie history"t)f the Jews, and will b« particularly useful t<» 
theolojp«il students. 



ELEMENTS 



GENERAL HISTORY, 



ANCIENT AND MODERN; 



B^INQ A CONTlNUATIOlli, 



TB&UINATIHa AT TBB 



DE3USE OF HIS MAJESTY KING GEORGE UL, 



BY THE REV. EDWARD NARES, D. D. 
Regius Professor of Modem History in the University of Oxlbrd. 



CONCORD, N. H. 

PUBUSHED BY JOHN F. BROWN. 

1837. 



Y ;^| 



ADVERTISEMENT. 

As the learned author of the Elements of General History, pro- 
fessor Tytler, (by courtesy lord Woodhouselee,) lived until the year 
1,813, itis much to be regretted that he did not bring his hiitory 
down to a laler period. 

In the present volume nothing further has been attempted than to 
continue the history from the point at which the professor left it, in 
the same concise style, and with as much attention to the original 
method and design, as could be rendered consistent with the extraor- 
dinary nature of ihe facts and incidents to be recorded. 

To this end it has been found necessary to carry on the history of 
Great Britain and Ireland from the period of the death of queen 
Anne ; 

That of the Southern Continental States of Europe, from the end 
of the reign of Louis XIV ; 

And that of the Northern States from the death of Charles XII. 
of Sweden, and Fcter the First of Russia. 



PAPT THIRD. 
MODERN HISTORY. 



SECTION I. 



FRANCE FROM THE DEATH OF LEWIS XIV. 1,716, TO THE 
PEACE OF VIENNA, 1,738. 

!, Ttrc last years of the very long and splendid reign of Lewis 
XIV. were clouded by many severe domestic misfortunes, and a 
great change in the sentiments and manners of the sovereign and his 
court. A mystical religion became the vogue, accompanied "-iih a 
gravity of demeanour approaching to prudery. The amiable Fene- 
lon fell into these errors, which wore countenanced by madame de 
Mainteiion, who had been privately married to the king, and seems 
to have possessed his coniidence in a high degree. 

2. On the king's demise (see Sect. LXIV.) the c^'wn descended 
to his grandson, Lewis XV., an infant, only i^'*^ years old. In a 
very short space of time, losses had occurred' "> the royal family, so 
strange and unexpected, as to afford grc'^tl for suspicion, greatly 
to the prejudice of the duke of Orl'^'»ns? nephew of Lewis Xlv. 
Three heirs to the crown, the D-^^phiHi his son the duke of Bur- 
gundy, and his gnindson the d'^^e of Bretagne, had all died within 
the short space of eleven P«onths, during the years 1,711, 1,712, 
leaving, to intercept tlie <=iaims and pretensions of the duke of Or- 
leans, only the duke o-^ Berry and one infant, apparently of a feeble 
and delicate constj^-Jtion, nnd whose own life had also been in dan. 
ger. The kin^ ^^ Spain had been previously compelled, according 
to the spirit ^' the celebrated treaty of the Pyrenees, formally to 
renounce "is claims fo the succession, notwithstanding his near rela- 
tionsl-'^p to the crown of France. Lastly, the duke of Berry died, 
i\l;^y 1,7 1 4, at the early age of 18. 

3. Fortunately for the reputation of the duke of Orleans, (who, 
though of loose morals, seems to have possessed too generous a 
heart for such base deeds), the infant dauphin not only lived to be 
come king, but to survive the duke himself, many years. NorweWf 
the suspicions which had been raised by the sudden deaths of so 
many heirs to the crown, strong enough to prevent the nation repos- 
ing the highest confidence in the duke, by suffering the kingly power 
to pass into his hands, as sole regent, during the minority ; tnough 
contrary to the express appointment of the late king, who is said 
to have wisely observed, when for form's sake he executed his will 
that it would have but little weight with the people, or the parlia 
metkt, as soon as his eyes were closed. The nation willing^ accedea 

I« S3 



238 MODERN HISTORY. 

to the disposition of tht parliament, in setting aside the claims of the 
illegitimate princes, when. «he will of Lewis XIV. favoured ; and 
the duke of Orleans was careivi to fix tli-at body in his interest, by 
promising to restore to it its lull pi^^er of remonstrance, which had 
been greatly restrained during the prec^f]j,ig reign. 

4. Lewis XIV. had left his kingdom so lu^.j^bered with debt, and 
BO surrounded by mortified, jealous, and ex.«Qf, rated neighbours, 
eager to recover what had been taken from them during the trium- 
phant wars of that monarch, that it became an objecioi the highest 
importance to the regent, for the nation's sake, as well a^i^jg otvn, to 
maintain peace as iar as he could with Ibreign states. To 'J.js end, 
liiough contrary to any former course of things, be prudently t-^dea- 
voured to form alliances with the courts of St. James's and Vien,.r, 
In the former case the advantages were similar and mutual. By the 
treaty of Utrecht, England stood engaged to secure the Fretich 
crown to the regent, in case Lewis XV. should die without iss-je ; 
and to keep her steady to this engagement, it was easy ibr the duke 
lo comply with the wishes of the whig government of England, in 
withholding all encouragement from the pretender. 

5. However pacific the views of the regent might be, Spain 
seemed to present an obstacle to the repose and tranquillity of Eu- 
rope. I'here a minister of a very different disposition had obtained 
Ihv chief management of affairs, who appeared bent upon disturbing 
both the French and English governments, in order to recover what 
had been taken from Spain by the treaty of Utrecht, especially in 
Italy ; to deprive the duke of Orleans of the regency, in favour of 
the king hw master, and to seat the pretender on the throne ot Great 
Britain, with \he aid of Russia and Sweden. Such were the plans of 
the celebrated JilUroni ; originally the son of a gardener; afterwik-ds 
ill the lowest stations ;,i the church of Placentia, but wno had raised 
himself, by an extraordi.ory display of genius and talent, to the high- 
est degree ot credit and inh.pnce at the court of Philip V., with the 
exalted rank ot cardinal. 

6. These movements indeed o.. the part of Spain, were not in 
themselves altogether uniavourable l-, the views of the regent ; in 
better securing lo him the good will of £.»aland and Austria, always 
prepared to be jealous of too close an intim.^y between the courts 
of Paris and Madrid. Some historians have e.on gone so Iar as to 
suppose it to have been a settled contriva.ice to iinpt^e on the former 
two courts, but certainly without suthcient grounds. 

7. It seems to have been a great ovei'sight in the negutjations at 
Utrecht, not to have endeavoured more effectually to reconcUe the 
courts of Austria and Spain. The Ibrmer, after the treaty, rema'i-aed 
jealous of the occupation of the Spanish throne by PJiitip; while 
the latter could not fail to be aggrieved and offended at being made 
to contribute t / the indemnification of Cliarles VI., by a very consid- 
erable dismemberment of its domuiions, without any suitable or 
adequate remuneration. 

8. To counte"act the projects of Alberoni, the regent entered into 
an alliance with England and the United States ; entirely sacrificing 
totlie former the interests of the pretender, who was to be sent out 
of France. But the Spanish minister was not to be deterred by this 
triple alliance and confederacy against him. Having watched Ids op- 

Eorliinity of a war between the emperor of Germany and the Porte, 
e suddenly commenced hostilities ; and, a\ ith no small degree of 
treachery, in the course of the years 1,717 and 1,710, succeeded in 



MODERN HISTORY. 259 

wresting from Austria the island of Sardinia, and from the duke of 
Savoy that of Sicily, thus violating, in the most direct and glaring 
manner, the solemn treaty of Rastadt, so lately concluded. In con- 
sequence of these proceedings, and in order to remedy, as it would 
seem, the defects and omissions of the original convention, Austria 
was admitted a party to the alliance between France, England, and 
Holland, with a view ttt bring about a reconciliation between the 
emperor and Spain, upon the basis of the following arrangement : 
that the former should renounce all claims to the Spanish throne in 
favour of Philip, while the latter should surrender to the emperor the 
Netherlands, the duchv of Milan, and the kingdom of Naples, as- 
signed to him by the treaty of Utrecht and the quadruple alliance. 
That the duke of Savoy should yield Sicily to Austria, receiving in 
exchange the island of Sardinia Irom Spain ; and tt.it the eldest son 
of Philip by his second marriage, don Carlos, should be secured in 
the reversion of the duchies ot Parma and Placentia, and the grand 
duchy of Florence, to be holden as male tiefs under the emperor, 
and on no occasion whatever to be united to the crown of Spain. 

9. There never was a period perhaps in which it would have 
been more difficult to unravel the policy of these several courts. It 
"•vas certainly a strange thing for the emperor to agree, in any man- 
ner,to admit the Spaniards into Italy, of which he had so much reason 
to be ontrustful ; much more to assist in doing so. While those verv 
terms, wuv^h were undoubtedly introduced to gratify the Spanish 
minister, in uj,, particular respect, so far from securing the ready 
consent of the Cirt of Madrid, only induced it to make fresh etfoMs. 
1 he predommance -^f France and J^igland, however, soon became 
so conspicuous, as to c^^pel Philip to subscribe to the articles of the 
alliance, and even to disn..;g iijg fovourite minister, the cause of all 
the grievances of which tu. allied powers had to complain, hi 
1,720 Austria took possession o; Sicily, and Victor Amadeus 11. trans- 
ierred the seat of his governmeniv, the island of Sardinia. 

10. In the month of December, 1,-23, in the 60th vear of hisage, 
the regent duke of Orleans died very uuidenly in a ("it of apoplexy. 
He was a prince of shining talents, and ol ^reat taste and spirit: but 
dissolute in his habits ot lite to a most disgr.oefiil pitch of extrava- 
gance. He did not indeed suffer his pleasures i^nd licentious connex- 
ions to interfere greatly with the discharge of his public duties, but 
they tarnished his liime. and in all likelihood sliorterjed his life. 1 le 
hiid the misfortune in hi-s youth to be put into the havids of a most 
unprincipled tutor, the Abbe Dubois, who continued v<ith him to 
the last year of his hfe, dying o;.ly four months betore him, a cardi- 
nal of Rome, and prime minister of Frasice ! The elevation of tliis 
proiligate man to such high stations in the church and state, did 
more mischief to the cause of religion and morality, than the persosi- 
al vices Ol" the regent, who, amidst a thousand foibles, had some great 
and brilliant qualities. 

Neither Austria nor Spain were satisfied with what had been done 
for them, iaA strong remonstrances were prepared on the part of tUP 
dukes of Parma and Placentia, the grand duke of Tuscany, and the 
pope, against the gnmts in reversion to the Infant of Spain. At- 
tempts were made to lY-concile the two courts more effectually by a 
congress, summoned to meet at Cainbray. iii the year 1,724, und«r 
the joint mediation of Fiance and England, but ineffectually : in 
1,729 another, but more private attempt, had better success ; it was 
undertaken by a very singular and eccentric character, the baron, or 



260 MODERN HISTORY. 

duke, de Ripperda, Dutch minister at the court of Madrid, who sik • 
ceeded so far, through his own intrigues, and the venaUtj' of the im 
perial court, as to give umbrage to the governments of'France and 
England ; the latter soon saw the necessity of guarding, by a coun- 
tei-treaty, framed at Hanover, against the effects of Ripperda's iri 
terposition. 

1 1. Secret articles were said to be signed and executed, to recov- 
er lor Spain the fortress of Gibraltar and tlie island of Minorca, to 
seat the pretender on the throne of Great Britain, to forward the 
emperor s views with regard to the Ostend East India Company, 
and to cement the alliance by marriages which would have laid a 
foundation lor the reunion of the Austrian and Spanish dominions 
under one sovereign. Ripperda himseH is said to have communicat- 
ed these secret articles to the English government: he was made to 
pay dear for bis treachery. 

As the empress of Russia had acceded to the treaty of Vienna., 
concluded by Ripperda, and France and England had taken steps to 
secure HolLuid and Prussia on their side, Europe seemed to be 
threatened with anollier general war, but the timely death of (he 
empress, in 1,727, and the defection of Prussia, gave a lurn to afl'airs. 
and left room l^r the renewal of the congress of Cambray, transferr*^ 
in the year 1,728, to Soissons, where i'resh endeavours were "^'i'de 
to establish a solid and permanent peace. As the emperor, |>j'vever, 
msisted on the accession of all the contracting jiowers, te I'^e P'"i'g- 
mafic Sanction, which was to secure to his heirs gen^'"'' ^''e undi- 
vided succession to all his territories and dominionft^'h^ other courts 
withdrew; and in November, 1,720, conclude('''t Seville in Spain a 
separate treaty, in which it was agreed, bef-een France, England, 
and Spain, to support the pretensions of <-'*e Iniant to the duch.es of 
Parma, i'lacentia, and Tuscany. To <i"s treaty liolland was soon 
after brought to accede, on the conff-t'on ^Ji'it her rights should be 
protected against the new East l^^^'^ Company, established by the 
emperor at Ostend, which w;" considered as contrary to the treaty 
of Westphalia, and manifestly injurious both to England and the 
United Slates. The trea-y of Seville was settled so totally without 
the concurrence of tlip emperor, that his name was not even men- 
tioned in it; which, ^s might be reasonably expected, gave great 
offenci. In the \-jai" 1,'731, however, England, and in 1,732 Holland, 
acceded to the n'lshes of the emperor, in regard to the Pragmatic 
Sanction, on condition that the archduchess, who should succeed to 
the empire, should not marry any Bourbon, or other prince or po- 
tentate, capable of disturbing t]ie peace of Europe. The Ostend 
Company was given up; the Iniant don Carlos took possession of the 
duchies of Parma and Placentia on the death of the last of the Far- 
nese limiily, and the graml duke of Tuscany acknowledged him as 
his heir. A treaty between England, Holland, and the en.})iie, call- 
ed the second ticaty of Vienna, was signed and executed at the latter 
place, which may be said to have terminated all the differences aris- 
ing out of the Spanish succession, by wluch the greater part of Eu- 
rope nad been kept in a state of agitation fgr the space of thirty 
years. 

While these things were in agitation, Victor Amadeus, embarrass- 
ed, as ii is said, with the counter engagements he had entered into 
with Austria and Spain, thought fit to resign his crown to his son^ 
Charles Emmanuel, but soon repenting of what he had done, pre- 
pared to rea^cend his abdicated throne; this rash aixl ii\judicious 6too 



MODERN HISTORY. 261 

tvas the cause of his imprisonment, and probably of his death, which 
.Happened in November, 1,732. 

12. In 1,733, France became involved again in a war, both the 
origin and end of which had something remarkable in them. The 
throne of the elective kingdom of Poland becoming vacant by the 
demise of Augustus of Saxony, two competitors appeared on the 
stage ; the son of the deceased king, and Stanislaus Lescinsky, who 
had with great credit previously occupied it through the interposi- 
tion of Charles XII. of Sweden," (see Sect. LXV^l.) and whose daugh- 
ter was married to Lewis XV. The emperor of Germany, llie 
Czarina, and the king of Prussia, espoused the cause of the former, 
JVance supported the latter, and commenced hostilities against the 
emperor, by detaching the king of Sardinia from his interests, and 
occupying Lorrain, whose duke was engaged to marry the emperoi's 
daughter. But the principal seat of war was in Italy, where the 
French, Spanish, and Saru'nian combined troops obtained many ad- 
vantages, and ultimately succeeded in seating don Carlos", duke ot 
Parma, &.c., on the throne of the Two Sicilies, to which he had been ' 
particularly invited by the Neapolitans. The Austrian court had 
been very supine, in not guarding better against the manifest de- 
signs of the queen of Spain, mother of don Carlos. He was crown- 
ed king by the title of Charles the third, July 3, 1,735. Naples 
was subdued in 1 ,734, and Sicily in the year following. During this 
contest, the celebrated prince Eugene, though then past seventy 
years of age, had the command of the imperial army on the Rhine ; 
but he had great cause to be offended with the situation in which he 
was placed ; the French being strongei ; England not to be roused 
tct jissist him, through the pacific views of the minister Walpole ; and 
having, both at court and in the army, many rivals and secret ene- 
mies. His only consolation was, the extreme and enthusiastic at- 
tachment of the soldiers, the very remembrance of which, as he 
feelingly acknowledges in his own memoirs, often afterwards drew 
tears from his eyes. 

13. Matters were brought to an accommodation, through the medi- 
ation of the maritime powers, (who, undoubtedly, appear in this 
case to have been guilty of misleading the emperor,) by a conven- 
tion signed at Vienna," in November, 1,738. By this treaty some 
very extraordinary appointments took place. Stanislaus, the depos- 
ed king of Poland, father-in-law to the king of France, obtained, 
keeping his kingly title, tne duchies of Lorrain and Bar, to revert to 
France after his death, which did not take place till the year 1,766. 
In exchange for what was thus bestowed upon Stanislaus, the duke 
of Lorrain obtained the grand duchy of Tuscany, the reversion of 
which had been guaranteed to the Infant don Carlos, but who was, 
by the same treaty, acknowledged king of the Two Sicilies, surren- 
dering in his turn to the emperor, his two duchies of Parma and Pla- 
centia; Vigevano and Novaro were given to the king of Sardinia; 
and to the emperor, the Milanese, the Mantuan, and Parma. 

On the conclusion of the peace, France acceded to the Pragmatic 
Sanction. The kings of Spain and Sardinia showed some reluctance 
to agree to the terms of the treaty, but were induced to sign it in the 
course of the year 1,729. It is certainly very remarkable, that, in 
consequence of a dispute about the crown of Poland, not only the 
emperor should have lost almost all his possessions in Italy, but 
France should have been able to recover a province of which she 
bad been deprived for the space of nearly a tbous?knd years, and so 



262 MODER^i HISTORY. 

situated as to render it one of the most splendid and gratifying acqui 
sitions slie could possibly have contemplated. 



SECTION II. 

ENGLAND FROM THE ACCESSION OF THE HOUSE OF HAN- 
OVER, 1,714, TO THE END OF THE REIGN OF GEORGE THE 
FIRST, 1,727. 

1. Qi'EEN Anne Avas no sooner dead, [Part II. Sect. LXIV. § 20.] 
than steps were taken for the immediate acknowledgment of her sgc-i 
cessor, George Lewis, elector of Brunswick Liineburg, pursuant toj 
the several acts of parliament, for securing the protestant succession, 
in exclusion of the pretender, t!o house of Savoy, and, in lact, every 
catholic branch of the royal family of England ; many of whomj 
were more directly in the line of inheritance than the protestant i 
descendants of James the first, in whom the crown was now vested ;j 
not, however, without due regard to that hereditary line \vhich rnayi 
be said to have occupied the throne from the time of Egbert. The I 
late union with Scotland, 1,706, [see as above] was calculated to sup-' 
press any general desire, on the part of the people there, to place | 
the-mselves again under a distinct sovereign. 

2. The accession of George 1., to judge from the addresses of the 
two houses of parliament, and the general tranquillity manifested in 
all parts of the three king loms, at the time of his proc!;imation, 
would seem to have been acceptable to the nation at large. Nor 
tva? the French king long before he openly acknowledged his rijiht 
and title to the crown of Great Biitain, though the sincerity of his 
declarations in favour of a protestant succcssiun, and the exclusion 
of the house of Stuart, was not too confidently relied upon. The 
states of Holland were, probably, entirely cordial, both in their ex- 
pressions of congratulation, and promises of support, according to I 
existing engagements to that effect, as guiu-antees of the Hanoverian 
succession. Erom the king of Prussin, and various other princes and 
states of Germany, his mnjesty also received the strongest assuran- 
ces of support; yet so little are these courtesies to be trusted, that! 
it is more than probable, from circumstances since come to light,' 
fhat al this very moment, with regiud to the continental stales in 
general, he had more enemies than friends. 

3. His entriince into his new doininions, however, September, 
1,714, was hailed in a mannei- that could not fail to be extreniely| 
gratifying to the king, though it soon became manifest, and could not 
well have been otherwise, that there were many secret heart-burn" 
higsand disappointed hopes, to prevent that perfect unanimity which 
was most desirable on an occasion so important. The tories, some 
of whom had evidently been tampering with the pretendei', during 
the last years of the queen''s reign, were greatly discomfited, and 
in a very marked manner discountenanced by the king himsoif". The 
whies enjoyed a triumph. The pretender's friends in general stood 
confounded, not only by the low estate of his cause, but by the per- 
plexity of their own feelings, with regard to liis more direct heredi 
tary claims to the crown. In this dilemma, it is not to be wordered 
that several should refuse to take the oaths of allegiance and abju« , 
ration. Scotland also, in part at least, bewailed its lost independency 



MODERN HISTORY. 263 

by the aci of union, which some were forward to have dissolved 
again; and the papists, being very numerous in Ireland, rendered 
tiie peace of that kingdom constantly precarious. 

4. The person, manners, and deportment of the new sovereign, 
were not such as immediately to conciliate his British subjects ; but 
hfc was by no means destitute of kingly virtues and accomplishments 
of a more solid and imjiortant description. Having delivered the 
ministerial government of the realm into the hands of the whigs, it was 
not long before serious proceedings were entered into, by the new 
administration.^ against the authors and advisers of the late peace and 
treaty of Utrecht ; and articles of impeachment ior high treason ex. 
hibited against the carl of Oxford, viscount Bolingbroke, the duke ot 
Ormond, earl of Strafford, and others. The duke of Ormond, and 
lord Bolingbroke, absconded ; the earl of Oxford, with greater mag- 
nanimity, stood upon his defence, and though imprisoned for a con- 
siderable time, v/as finally acfjuitted. Under a pretence of the 
church being in danger, which seems to have been adopted as a sort 
of watch-word by the tory party and jacobUes, (for so the adherents 
of the pretender were called,) riots and tumults took place in many 
parts of the kingdom ; in consequence of which, the king was em- 
powered by parliament (1,715,) to raise fresh forces, and the habeas 
corpus act was suspended, for the more speedy apprehension and de- 
tention of suspected persons. 

5. In Scotland, however, notwithstanding great precautions to the 
contrary, a rebellion actually broke out in the month of August, 
1,715, headed by the earl of Mar, late secretary of state for liiat 
kingdom ; and in September, the pretender's standard was erected 
at a place called Brae Mar, though the pretender himself did not ar- 
rive in Scotland till the December following ; before which time a 
severe action had taken place at Dunblain, between the contending 
armies, commanded on the side of the English by the duke of 
Argyle ; and on the side of the Scotch by the earl of Mar. The 
pretender, on reaching the shores of Scotland, was received with 
regal honours, and addresses were presented to him from many cor- 
porate bodies; even his coronation was fixed to take place on the 

J 23d day of January. But during the course of these transactions, 
the chief officers of his army, as soon after appeared, were but too 
well convinced of their perfect inability to terminate the contest 
successfully, many things having fallen out to the disappointment of 
their hopes; particuhu'ly the death of Lewis XIV., who, notwith- 
standing his protestations in favour of the house of Hanover, had 
secretly favoured their cause. The English army, besides, since the 
battle of Dunblain, had been considerably reintbrced, by Dutch as 
well as English troops. This being the case, as we learn from an ac- 
count given by the earl of Mar himself, ttiey felt compelled to abiui.lon 
liieir enterprise lor the present; and in order to check the pursuit 
of the enemy, eager to seize the person of the pretender, they per- 
suaded the latter to leave the kingdom again, and return to Fiance ; 
the earl of Mar himself accompanying him. They were followed, 
afierwards, by many leaders ot the rebels, who, in'a most extraordi- 
nary manner, escaped the English vessels stationed to intercept their 
Eassage ; but some of those, who had previously fallen into Ihe 
ands of tiie English, as the earl of Derwentwater, and ethers, were 
impeached, and pleading guilty, executed. Many escaped by an act 
of grace. Thus was the rebellion, in a great measure, subdued : 
congratulatory addresses poared in upon the sovereign, and a day of 



264 MODERN HISTORY. 

public thanksgiving was appointed to be observed throughout the 
kingdom. 

6. The whig?, however, apprehending that their opponents, in a 
new parliament, might regain their ascendancy, and be able to carry 
into execution their projects against the existing government, brought 
in a hill, (since called the septennial bill,) for enlarging the continu- 
ance of parliament, whereby the term was extended from three to 
seven years, unless sooner dissolved by the king, and to begin with 
the parliament then chosen and assembled ; a most important meas- 
ure, and accidentally originating with a party more friendly in repute 
to the rights and liberty of the people than the step itself would 
seem to imply. Abstracted from ail temporary or party considera- 
tions, it may justly be regarded as a very delicate and important 
point in politics, to determine either a inaxiinwn or minininm, with 
regard to the Juration of such elective assemblies as the English 
house of comnr!ons. Frequent elections being essentially necessary 
to preserve the people from any gross neglect of their inierests by 
their representatives, or any unconstitutional encroachment on their 
liberty, as well as to remedy abuses; but too frequent elections, hav- 
ing evidently the ill effect of keeping up party divisions, lends, and 
animosities, interrupting business, and lessening the conlidence of 
foreign states in the measures of government. Too frequent elec' 
(ions, besides, by bringing independent candidates so much the 
oftener into a contest with the treasury, (for government must have, 
and will always endeavour to exert, a powerful intluence,) may in 
lime deter such persons from a conllict so disadvantageous ; unies*, 
in short, government influence in elections should be entirely done 
away, the more frequently they recur, the more they will harass 
and weaken private independence. (See liurke's works.) It was 
•judoubtedly a bold step for any parliament, chosen under the popu 
lar triennial act of king William, to enlarge its own continuance ; nor 
was it ill urged by a member of the house of peers, as an argument 
against the bill, that, "il'the existing house of commons continued 
themselves beyond the time for which they were chosen, they were 
no more the representatives of the people, but a house of their own 
making." The whigs, however, had this excuse, that the proposed 
measure was calculated to suppress a rebellion, or prevent the re- 
newal of one ; not raised, like other rebellions, under a pretence of 
111 erty, but, in their eyes, clearly tending towards slavery, in the 
establishment of a catholic prince, and the destruction of the prot- 
estant interests, both in church and state. It was well that they as- 
signed any limit to their continuance, since a mere repeal of the 
triennial act would have left the term undeHned. The bill was final- 
ly passed, after much opposition in the lower house, and a strong 
protest on the part of many lords in the upper, by a majority in the 
commons of 264 to 121 ; and it has continued the law oi parliament 
ever since. 

7. hi the year 1,717, an unpleasant dispute occurred, affecting the 
church, and which seems to have terminated the sittings of convo- 
cation. Dr. Hoadley, bishop of Bangor, gave occasion to it, by a 
sermon preached before the king, March 31, on "The Nature of 
the Kingdom of Christ," and by a publication entitled, "a Preserva- 
tive against the Principles and the Pr.ictices of the Non-jurors." 
The bishop had been a warm friend to the revolution, and many of 
the principles he asserted were undoubtedly directed rather against 
popery than our own establishment ; while, in opposition to the jun 



MODERN HISTORY. £85 

tihino pretence of the tories, he declaimec! violentl}' against every 
abuse of authority, at the ha;^ard of impairing all church discipline, 
derogating from the regal supremacy in " causes ecclesiastical," and 
annulling the force of all civil sanctions whatsoever in matters of 
reUgicn ; on these grounds the convocation took the matter up, but 
\vithout rnuf h effect. It was dissolved in the midst of the controver- 
sy, and has never sat to do business since. Those who chiefly at 
tacked the bishop in print, were Dr. Snape of Eton, dean Sherlock, 
Dr. Tannon, (who undertook to vindicate the proceedings of convo- 
cation,) Dr. rotter, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, and ]\lr. 
Wiliiam Law. Perhaps no antagonist entered the lists, with more 
decorum of manners, or integrity of disposition, than the latter, who, 
in several letters addressed to the bishop, plainly proved that, how- 
ever innocent his intentions might be, his arguments and expression.^ 
plainly tended to the subversion of all church authority, and the en- 
couragement of a most fatal indifference to every particular form of 
worship and belief Which, considering the high situation he held 
in the chuixh, and the duties attached to that station, could not but 
appear in the light of an abandonment of those principles, which 
alone could have placed him there. Such, however, was the state 
of parlies at the time, that the bishop was advanced to a higher post 
in tlie church, and some of the most forward of his opponents dis- 
missed from their employments about the court. 

8. In 1 ,7 1 8 George the fu'st became a party to the celebrated 
quadruple alliance, formed to counteract the plans and projects of the 
Spanish minister Alberoni, (Sect. t. § 8,) who, while his views were 
chiefly directed towards his native country, Italj'. managed to involve 
almost the whole of Europe in contests and jealousies, exceedingly 
perplexing, and inimical to the peace and tranquillity oJmany states. 
Distant as Swederi was, geographically, from the seat and ohject of 
his manoeuvres, yet, in order to prevent any interruption from Eng- 
land, he had nearly instigated the celebrated Charles XII. to invade 
the latter country, for the purpose of restoring the pretender to the 
throne of his ancestors. His agents and accomplices, however, 
were fortimalely detected in time to prevent the rupture between 
the two courts. George I. was no favourite, either with the Swedish 
monarch, or his celebrated competitor, the czar of Muscovy. 

9. Tije chief object of the quadruple alliance, as has been before 
hinted, was to reconcile and adjust the rival claims and pretensions 
of the courts of Vienna and Madrid. Alberoni had endeavoured, 
during the war between the emperor and the Turks, to get posses- 
sion of Sardinia, Sicily, and other places, for the sons of the queen 
of Spain, a princess of Parma, his native country. He had proposed, 
in short, to recover for Spain all that had been conceded and surren- 
dered by the treaty of Utrecht. (Part II. Sect. LXIV.) The inlei- 
ference of England, in sending a fleet to the Mediterranean, to sup- 
poi't the rights of the emperor, according to treaty, at the very mo 
merit when the Spanish forces were prepared to invade Sicily and 
the kingdom of Naples, exceedingly exasperated the cardinal min- 
ister, and induced him to heap reproaches on the British govcro- 
ment for their precipitate proceedings, pretending that the Spaniards 
had in every instance manifested a fjivourable disposition towards 
England ; though notiiing was more notorious f/ian that her mer- 
chiuits had been scandalously ill-treated by them, and her minister 
at Madrid overwhelmed with complaints to that effect. The latter, 
indeed, sfate^J afterwards in the house of commons, that he had pro- 

Z 34 



266 MOD£R]N HISTORY. 

sented, at the least, five-and-twenty memorials to the court of Spain 
upon the subject, without redress; and notwithstanding all these in- 
dignities, and to evince the desire of his government not too precipi- 
tately to commence hostilities, had communicated to the Spanisii min- 
ister the numbers and force of the English fleet before it sailed, in 
order to convince him of hs superiority, and deter him from the 
measures he had in view. The defeat of the Spanish fleet, off Siciiv, 
by admiral Byng, August 1,718, ruined all the projects of A I be ronl; 
he soon after lell into disgrace, and was precipitated from the exalted 
station he had attained to by the strength of his genius ; which, what- 
ever his enemies might allege, certainly bespoke a keen and vigi- 
lant statesman, and an able minister, as far as regarded the interests 
of the country he served, both foreign and domestic. 

10. Though so severe an action had taken place in the Mediter- 
ranean, between the English and Spanish Heels in the month ol 
August, war was not formally declared at London tUl the close of 
the year 1,718, (Dec. 29.) between which period and the linal dis- 
grace and retirement of the Spanish minister, he had attempted 
two measures of deep revenge, one on the power and person of tiie 
duke of Orleans, regent of France, and the other on the govern- 
ment of George 1. of England, by an invasion of his dominions In 
favour of the pretender, and under the direction of the expatriated 
duke of Ormond. It is remarkable that these projects were severally 
detected by the French regent and British monarch, in time to admit 
of their warning each other of the danger in which they were re- 
spectively placed, and of offering the assistance which the cases re- 
quired. 

11. The war so suddenly and unexpectedly excited between 
Clreat Britain and Spain, was in no long course of time brought to 
an issue very honourable and glorious to the former ; admiral Byng 
with his fleet in the Mediterranean, having so managed matters as 
fully to accomplish all the purposes of his mission, putting the em- 
peror into possession of Sicily, and the duke of Savoy of Sardinia, 
under circumstances of peculiar dithculty and embarrassment, owing 
to the obstinacy, backed by the bravery of the Spaniards, tlie hin- 
drances arising from a succession of governors at Naples, and the 
loss of time in the necessary comnmnications with his own cour- 
and thai of V'ienna. No man, perhaps, ever discharged so delicate 
and arduous a commission, with more applause on the part of hi? 
own country and her alhes, or with fewer complaints and less obloquy 
on the part of his opponents. The latter indeed, in this case, rather 
joined in the cominendations so liberally bestowed on him by his em- 
ployers, at the termination of the short but vigorous contest. When 
he waited on the king at Hanover, his majesty is said, very justly, to 
have observed to him, that he had found out the secret of obliging 
his enemies as well as his friends; alluding to the very honourable 
terms in which the Spaniards had expressed themselves concerning 
him, both as an officer and negotiator. He was most deservedly ad- 
vanced to the peerage, by the title of viscount Torrington, and had 
other appropriate honours bestowed upon him. Towards the close 
of the year 1,719, the king of Spain acceded to the terms of the 
quadruple alliance; his minister, on the urgent and joint demands 
of the king of England, ttie emperor, and regent of France, having 
been previously dismissed, and banished ttie icingdcm of Spain. 

12. In the course of the year 1,719, a bill was Drought into par- 
lian>ent by the ministry, for limiting the number of the peers, it 



MODERN HISTORY. 267 

originated with Lord Sunderland, who is said to have had in view to 
restrain the power of the prince ol Wales, whom he had offended, 
when he should succeed to the throne. After much debate, and it i3 
supposed almost entirely through the influence of Sir Robert VVal- 
pole, it was rejected by a large nia'j'^rity, '269 to 177. 

13. In 1,720 the king was much occupied in affording protection 
and support to the protestant interests abroad, and in endeavouring 
to restore peace and tranquillity amongst the northern states. Swe- 
den, Denmark, Prussia, and Poland, reaped the fruits of his media- 
tion ; but the czar resisted his proposals, and, for some time, contin- 
ued t^ act against Sweden, in cfefiance of the combined operations ot 
that country and England. He at last, however,' consented to accept 
the mediation of France, and peace was established between Russia 
and Sweden, by the treaty of Nystadt, 1,721. 

1 4. Nothing occurred in this reign more disastrous in its conse- 
quences, or more strange and extravagant in its origin and progress, 
than the celebrated South Sea scheme, whereby, though immense for- 
tunes were rapidly made by some, many individuals were ruined, 
and public credit alarmingly shaken. The details of this curious 
speculation and bubble (as it has been but too justly denominated.) 
it would be exceedingly uninteresting to enter into, in a work like 
the present, and they are easily to be found elsewhere ; but such an 
instance of public infatuation, illusion, and credulity, was only to be 
matched by the Mississippi scheme, projected by Law, during the 
regency in Prance, which had a similar effect, and which was most 
probably the model from which Sir John Blunt, the projector of the 
South Sea scheme, took the hint. The French system has been sup- 
posed to have had something more substantial in it, with respect to 
the exclusive trade to Louisiana. But the South Sea scheme had 
certainly commercial advantages attached to it. The two schemes, 
it must be admitted, supply the most useful lesson to all wise states, 
not to tamper with the public credit, or countenance such suspicious 
projects ; for though both these adventures set out with very plau- 
sible pretences of public benefit, and a certainty of relieving, rather 
than distressing, the credit of the nation, their course and progress 
soon became such as to exute the most lively apprehensions in alJ 
considerate minds, of the consequences which actually ensued ; es- 
peciaUy in England. 

15. The politics of Europe were in a very perplexed state, to- 
wards the close of the reign of George L, owing to two treaties, 
of which some account has been given in another place, but which 
were very important to the English nation. These were the trea- 
ties of Vienna and Hanover, the former of which took place in 
April, and the latter in September, 1,725. By the former, the em- 
peror and Spain were supposed secretly to have bound themselves 
to procure the restitution of Gibraltar and Port Mahon, to the latlei 
power; to aid the pretender, and to further the interests of the Os- 
tend East India Company, ^vhich had given umbrage to England, 
Holland, and France. By the latter treaty, England was able to 
secure on her side, against the projects of Austria and Spain, the 
kings of Prussia and Sweden, and the states of Holland ; but as this 
aid vvas very slowly and reluctantly promised, and, in one instance, 
soon abandoned, the state of affairs would have been very alarming, 
but for the encouragement given by parliament, which was so effec- 
tual, that though considerable preparations for war took place on the 
pari of almost all the nations concerned, articles of peace, through 



268 MODERN HISTORY. 

the mediation of France, were agreed upon in Mnj, 1,727, and ac> 
ceptcd by the imperial court and Spain ; by these the cliarter of t!)P 
Ostend company was suspended ibr a certain period, and tne siege 
of Gibraltar, which had actually commenced, and been carried on 
for four months, raised and abandoned. 

IG. George 1. died at Osnaburgh, on his way to his electoral do 
minions, June 11, 1,727, with the reputation of an honest and geneious 
prince. He was brave in the field, and wise jn council ; having had 
many arduous^ negotiations on his hands, which he commonly con- 
ducted to a favourable issue ; not often, however, without large sub- 
sidies. His own measures were generally defensive and preventa- 
tive. He was fortunate in the state of things, at the period of Queen 
Anne's death, and in the removal of Lewis XIV., and Charles Xll. of 
Sweden, both of whom were personally unfriendly to him, and cer- 
tainly had projects on foot for the restoration of the Stuart fimily. 
King George constantly manifested a disposition to govern according 
to the laws and constitution of the kingdom. And it has been observ- 
ed to his credit, that the nation not only improved in wealth and 
credit during his reign, but enjoyed a greater degree of tranquillity 
at home, and a longer duration of peace abroad, than during any 

Eeriod since the time of Queen Elizabeth. At the time of his death 
e was in the sixty-eighth year of his age. 



SECTION III. 

AUSTRIA (AND GERMANY) FROM THE PEACE OF RASTADT 
1,714, TO THE PEACE OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, 1,748. 

1. The affairs of Austria, as incidentally connected with those of 
France, Spain, England, Italy, and Prussia, from the year 1,713 to 
1,738, have been already treated of in the preceding sections. It 
may be necessary, however, to take a brief view of matters, fi-om the 
commencement of the reign of Charles VI., to the dealh of that mon- 
arch; which event, as we shall have to «how, greatly disturbed the 
whole of Europe, and occasioned the war which was terminated by 
the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1,748. 

2. Charles VI., who had borne a conspicuous part in the succession 
war, as a competitor for the Spanish throne, (Part II. Sect. LXIV.) 
became emperor in the year 1,711, on the demise of his eldei 
brotlier, Joseph I. Though he had declined becoming a party to 
the treaty of Utrecht, m 1,713, it was not long before he perceived 
his error, being left alone to support an expensive war. In the fol- 
lowing year, therefore, he received the proposals made to him by 
the court of Versailles, consented to the opening of conferences, in 
the month of November, 1,713, and, in the March following, 1,714, 
signed the treaty of Rastadt, by which he obtained possession of the 
Spanish Netherlands, (except the barrier towns ceded to Holland,; 
Naples, Sardinia, Milan, Frieburg, and Kehl. 

3. But he was' very soon disturbed in a part of these acquisitions, 
by the restlessness and jealousy of Spain, already noticed. Great de- 
signs were formed against his Italian territories ; Sardinia actually 
taken from him, in 1,717 ; Sicily, in 1,718, and further encroachments 
projected, but for the timely interposition of the English, under 
admiral Byng, in the Mediterranean, (Sect. II. ^ 9, 11.) who 9t»on 



MODERN HISTORY. 26!» 

lioughl matters to a favourable issue for Austria, with infinite credit 
lu hitr.solf, bolh as an officer and a negotiator. 

■i. .-ipaiii had eagerly caught at the opportunity which presented 
itself of making tiiese attacks upon Austria, while the latter power 
was engaged in war with Turkey, in aid of the Venetians. The 
Turlcs, (instigated, it has been said, by the Spanish minister, to 
engage the attention of Austria,) in violation of the treaty of Car- 
iowilz, had taken the Morea from the Venetians, before Austria 
carae to their aid, in the year 1,716; nor, though from that lime 
so powerfully assisted, were they able to recover that peninsula. 
Ciiarles VI., however, was not long at variance with the Porte upon 
this occasion. As early as the year 1,718, through the extraordinary 
skill and valour of prince Eugene, the Austrian commander, things 
were brought to an issue, and a peace concluded, through the me- 
diaiion of England and Holland, at Passarowitz, by which the Turks 
were allowed to retain the Morea, en ceding to the Venetians some 
iiontier towns in Albania and Dalmatia, while Austria obtained Bel- 
grade, the Bannat of Temeswar ana Wallachia, as tar as the Aluta; 
she was also able to establish a free commerce in all the harbours of 
the Black Sea, and of the Danube, as well as with the Persians. The 
early termination of this war, together with the successes of the 
i'.ngiish on the shores of Sicily, checked the operations of the Span- 
iarils, and disposed them to agree to the terms of the quadruple al- 
liiuice. Spain and Austria, however, were not effectually reconciled 
till the year 1,725, at which period the emperor was induced to re- 
nounce his pretensions upon Spain and the Indies. 

5. Charles VI. was for a long time deeply occupied in endeavour- 
ing to preserve his own dominions from such difliculties as Spain had 
been involved in, at the beginning of this century, owing to the dis- 
puted succession to the Spanish throne, on the demise of Charles II., 
and ill vvhich he had himself been so greatly concerned. He propos- 
ed, for tjjis end, by a " Pragmatic Sanction," to make it a law, that 
if he should, at the lime of his death, have either sons or daugh- 
ters, the hereditary dominions and crowns belonging to the house, of 
Austria, should remain united. . In failure of such issue, male or fe- 
male, the daughters of his deceased brother, Joseph, were to succeed ; 
and it' lliey died without heirs, the inheritance was to pass to his sis- 
ters, and their descendants. When this act was proposed, at the 
diet of Kutisbon, it was violently resisted by the electors of Saxony 
and Bavaria, as well as the elector Palatine, but by the treaty of \'ien- 
na, 1,731, as well as by previous negotiations at the different courts ol 
Eiirope, almost every power, except France, was brought to consent 
to the proposed regulations -, England and Holland, in particular, 
having been gained over by the emperor's agreement to suppress the 

ew East India Company vvhich he had endeavoured to establish 
at Ostend. The guarantee of France was not obtained tid six year? 
alter, in recompense of the transfer of the duchies of Eoriaine and 
Bar to the latter power, on the demise of Stanislaus, king of Poland, 
who obtained the government of those countries bv the treaty oi 
1.738. 

6. (Jharles VI. had scarcely succeeded in his great object of the 
prag, Sialic sanction, before he was engaged in a fresh war with the 
Turks, in virtue of a treaty concluded with Russia, who had com- 
menced hostilities against the Porte, in 1,736. The war on the 
part of Austria, however, was of very short duration. She had 
tost the support of her famous general, prince Eugene ; and hei 



270 MODERN HISTORT. 

armies, on the present occasion, appear to have been ill conducted. 
Jealousies and disagreements amongst the superior officers, and a 
great want of resources, baffled all their operations. In 1,739, the 
emperor was compelled to submit to the terms of the treaty of 
Belgrade, which was highly advantageous to Turkey. Austria 
surrenilered Servia, with the fortresses of Belgrade and Szabatch ; 
and Austrian Wallachia, \vith the fortress of Orsova. By the treaty 
of Belgrade, the Porte also obtained advantages over Russia; but it 
is now known, that this convention was very artfully conducted by 
an ngfnt of (he French court, who was instructed not only to prevent 
tlie dismemberment of Turkey, by the combined forces of Austria 
,iiul Russia, but to resist the aggrandizement of the former, and 
separate her, if possible, from her northern ally. 

7. Ill the year immediately tbiiowing that in which the treaty of 
Belgrade had restopr>d harmony between the two courts of Vienna 
and Constantinople, so much to the advantage of the latter, Charles 
\ 1. died, the last heir-male of the Austrian line of princes. Notwith- 
standing all the care he had taken to secure to his daughter the 
entire hereditary dominions of hi^ family ; and though almost the 
whole of Europe had guaranteed the indivisibility of his dominions, 
according to his wishes, he was no sooner dead than numerous 
claims were set up, and a war kindled, which may be said to have, 
in it« progress, involved every European state. The archduchess, 
Mr.ria Theresa, consort of Francis, duke of Tuscany, according to 
tlie terms of the Pragmatic Sanction, (wliich, however, had been ill 
drawn up,) succeeded, on the death of her father, to the following 
kingdoms, states, and territories: Hungary and Bohemia, Silesia 
■nul Austrian Suabia, Upper and Lower Austria, Styria, Carinthia, 
Cainiola, Burgau, Brisgau, the Low-Countries, Friuli, Tyrol, the 
iUantiian, and the Duchies of Milan, Parma, and Placentia. 

8. I. niortunately for the archduchess, Charles VI. hud left his 
army in a bad condition, his linanccs embarrassed, ai.d, at the time 
of bis death, a scarcity almost approaching to taniine, prevailed in 
•nany parts of bis dominions. All these circiimstances combined, 
were calculated to rais'^, up compolitors for different portions of his 
estates. Nor were they at all tardy in advancing their claims. The 
elector of Bavaria pretended to be the proper heir to the kingdom 
of Bohemia. Augustus II., elector of Saxony and king of Poland^ 
having married the eldest daughter of Joseph 1., elder brother ot 
Charles VI., claimed the whole Austrian succession. The king of 
Spain did the same, though upon a more remote title, and entirely 
through females. The king of Sardinia made pretensions to the 
duchy of Milan, and Frederic II., of Prussia, to the province of Sile- 
sia. 

9. Many of these several claimants had formally agreed to the 
terms of the pragmatic sanction, and even at first professed the most 
favourable dispositions towards the archduchess, who had taken quiet 
possession of all that had descended to her ; but the times, and the 
peculiar circumstances of the empire, encouraged them to break 
through their engagements; not, however, altogether without sonie 
pretence of honour and justice ; as was the case with France. The 
king of France had, as well as the kings of Poland and Spain, pre- 
tended to have derived a right from two princesses, married to Lew 
IS XUl. and XIV., to the whole succession ; but choosing, rather than 
to depend upon these titles, to take the part of the elector of Bava- 
ria, he insisted that, in his guarantee of the Pragmatic Sanction, by thf 



MODERN HISTORY. 271 

ciaiise " sine prcejudicio feriii,'''' he was fairly left at liberty to e.«pouse 
any claims (hat should appear to him more just than those of the 
arcli(Uichcss, queen of liuugary. This clause had, indeed, been in- 
troduced into some of the acts of guarantee, though not into all. 

10. The most forward find active of the queen's opponents was a 
prince little known till then, Frederic king of Prussia, at that time 
ubout twenty-eight years of age. He had succeeded, through the 
prudence ot his father, to an army and a treasury of no inconsider- 
able importance ; both of which he had himself also found time to 
Improve. His movements were sudden, and quite unexpected by 
the court of Vienna ; and he soon made known what his deman(H 
were, proposing that if they should be granted, he would support 
Austria against other enemies, and assist the queen in placing her 
hiisljand on the imperial throne. He pretended, indeed, at tirst, to 
be only desirous of occupying Silesia, as a friend to the queen ; but 
tbe mask was soon laid aside, and his fixed determination to become 
master of Lower Silesia rendered visible to all the world. 

11. The queen would consent to the surrender of no part of her 
inheritance, though possibly her refusal in this instance, occasioned 
the alliance soon afterwards formed between the court of V'ersailleg 
and Frederic, from which she suffered so much. England, it is said, 
counselled submission in the point of Silesia, foreseeing the conse- 
quences ; but worse consequences, perhaps, were to be apprehend- 
ed, had she complied. It would, in all likelihood, have disposed 
others to urge their claims with greater importunity. 

l^J. Aitled by France and Saxony, the elector of IJavaria, towards 
the middle of the year 1,741, acquired possession of the kingdrm of 
Bohemia, and was proclaimed king, and inaugurated with great 
solemnity; and, on the I'ith of February, 1,742, he had the imperial 
dignity conferred on him by the diet of Frankfort, under tb.e title of 
Charles Vll., having been chosen, however, when some of the elec- 
tors were disqualified from voting. 

13. Never was there a greater prospect of a total dismembermenf 
ol the Austrian dominions than at this time. Different parts were 
regularly assignetl to the several claimants, and nothing left lor the 
daughter of Charles VI. but the kingdom of Hungary, the province 
of Lower Austria, the Belgian states, and the duchies of Carinthia. 
Styria, and Carniola. Precautions had even been taken to prevent 
her deriving any aid from Russia, by exciting Sweden to declare was 
against the latter power. But the spirit of this surprising woman 
was nut to be bioken by the powerful combination against her. She 
had, at the very commencement of her reign, in a singular and ex- 
traordinary manner, and with consummate wisdom, particularly by 
faking the ancient oath of king Andrew 11., attached to her interests 
the brave Hungarians. Repairing to them with her infimt son, she 
threw herself entirc-ly upon their protection, and, in the most pui>lic 
nr.uiner. addressing them in the Latin language, at a special assembiy 
of the states, presented her child to them in terms the most pathetic. 
Supported by their valour, and with the help of English and Dutch 
money, she baliied all her enemies, and finally dissipated the sloriK 
lh;it so rudely threatened her. It was not, indeed, until Walpole was, 
removed from the English ministry that the queen received any ac- 
tive assistance from the king of England ; but afterwards, Oolh in 
Flanders and Italy, he was a powerful ally. She also derived some 
succours from the king of Sardinia, not, liowever, very creditably 
purchased with regard to G«noH. 



iiV2 MODERN HiSTORY. 

1 4. H;k1 the numerous powers first armed against Maria TheresJl, 
or iutimidated into a state of neutrality, agreed amongst themselves, 
it would have been impossible for the queen to have withstood their 
attacks ; but, fortunately for her, many stood so directly in a state of 
livalship towards eacli other, and France was such an object of sus- 
2)icion and alarm to almost all the other confederates, that their very 
iirst movements produced jealousies and divisions amongst them ; 
and, what is very remarkable, the earliest who showed a disposition 
to treat with the queen was the king of Prussia, in consequence of 
(he successes of tlie elector of Bavaria in Bohemia. 

15. I'he interference of England, in behalf of the queen, did at 
iirst, indeed, only exasperate I ranee, and the other allies of Charles 
V'll., and excite them to a more vigorous opposition. But the death 
of the emperor, in the year 1,745, who had derived no happiness, 
but, indeed, a great deal of misery, i'rom his short exaltation, and his 
son's pruilent and wise abandonment of such high dignities, in order 
to secure his quiet possession of his paternal dominions, left the 
queen at lib'~:rty to procure for her husband, Francis, grana duke of 
'Fuscany, the imperial crown ; his election to which took place in 
the month of September of the same year; the queen agreeing to 
admit the young elector of Bavaria to the full possession of his he- 
reditary dominions, and to acknowledge his father, Charles \ 11., to 
have been duly invested with tl.e imperial dignity. After some 
signal successes, the queen's great adversary, the king of Prussia, 
also came into her terms, having agreed, in a treaty concluded at 
Dresden, to acknowledge the validity of Francis's election, on being 
put in possession of Silesia and the county of Glatz, the chief objects 
tor wliich he had been contending. The elector Palatine was like- 
wise included in this treaty. 

lo. The French continued the war in the Netherlands, as well 
. as in Italy, and with considerable success ; but the queen being a 
good deal disembarrassed by the peace she had been able to con- 
clutle with Prussia, had it soon in her power to recover all that 
the French and Spaniards had acquired in Italy, while the French 
coi^quests in Flanders and HollanLJ led lo the re-establishment of 
tlie studtholdei'ship, and thereby baiiled all their hopes of future 
advantages in those parts. The interlerence of the empress of 
Russia, subsidized by England, and, above all, the pecuUar situation 
(f the king of France, whose lincuices were almost exhausted, and 
wlio had suffered severe losses by sea, tended to bring matters to an 
issue. A congress was opened at Aix-ia-Chapelle, which, though 
ritiier slow in its operations, at last terminated in a peace, concluded 
October 7, 1,748, exactly a hundred years after the lamous treaty 
of Westphalia, which served for a basis of the negotiations entered into 
upon this occasion. By this convention, as in most other instances of 
the same nature, there was so general a restitution of conquests, as 
plainly to mark the folly and injustice of having continued the war 
so long. During tliis contest, in the year 1,743, died the cardinal de 
Fleury, tirst minister of France, at the very advanced age oi ninety. 
He did not assume the reins of government till he was seventy- 
three. He had many virtues, but was much more admired by his 
countrymen for his integrity and disinterestedness, than lor energy 
of chaiacter, or public spirit. 

17. The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle bringing us, as nearly as can be, 
to the middle ot the eighteenth century, it may be well to take a 



MODERN HISTORY. 273 

view of Europe at this particular period, and as connected with 
tliis celebrated treaty ; but this must be reserved for a future section. 



SECTION IV. 

ENGLAND FROM THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE II. TO THE. 
THRONE, 1 ,727, TO HIS DEATH, 1,760- 

1. The accession of George II., who came to the throne 1,727, in 
the 44th year of his age,-and in a time of profound peace, was not at- 
tended with such changes as many iiad expected. Even the minis- 
ter himseh', sir Robert Walpole, is said to have been surprised at the 
reception he met wi^h from ids majesty, on the demise of the hilo 
king, and at the continuance of the power in his hands. But llus is 
now known to haye been owing to the wise and prudent care ot 
queen Caroline,' who, at this moment, was lound to possess an influ- 
ience over her royal consort, which had been by many little suspect- 
ed, but which her extreme good sense, and discreet conduct, seemed 
fully to justily. The whigs might justly be considered as the truest 
friends of the house of Hanover and the protestant church ; and 
their continuance in power at the commencement of a new reign, 
though very graiing to the adverse party, seemed to be extremely 
favourable to the quiet of the nation. 

2. The good-will which had sprung up, and been encouraged dur- 
ing the regency, between the rival courts of Versailles and London, 
was not materially disturbed during the whole administration of 
Walpole, and his pacilic contemporary, cardinal Fleury ; the queen 
being also friendly to peace. But as it is not easy tor any peaceable 
government long to escape the encroachments ot other states, Spain, 
apparently presuming on the forbearance or apathy of the British 
ministry, committed great depredations, for a series of years, upon 
the trade of England with America and the West-Indies, committing 
many acts of most atrocious cruelty, in addition to their other deeds 
of insult and plunder. Some steps were at length taken to remedy 
these evils, but the conduct of Spain was so generally resented by 
the nation, as to render even the convention, by which the disputes 
were referred to arbitration, extremely unpopular. It being thought, 
by many of all descriptions, not only that the grievances complained 
of had been too long submitted to and endured, and the measuicw 
hitherto taken to redress them been too tame and submissive, but 
that nothing less than a war could restore the lost consequence of 
the state, or bring such otfenders to reason. 

3. The Spaniards, indeed, had detended their conduct in many 
memorials, pretending that the English were the aggressori, in car- 
rying on a contraband and unlawtul trade with their colonies ; but 
had this been capable of proof to the extent the Spaninrds pretend- 
ed, wlwch was certainly not the case, there is no doubt but that they 
sutfereJ themselves to be hurried into most unjustitiable excesses in 
their measures of reprisal, and exceedingly ill-treated both the mer- 
chants anrl sailors of^ England. They insisted upon a general right 
of search, on the open seas, and condemned the ships and cargoes, 
upon such frivolous pretences as could not fail to be extremely in- 
jurious and oppressive, and quite contrary to existing treaties. In 
one instance, a whole lleet of English merchant-ships, at the island of 



&74 MODERN HISTORY. 

Tortugas, was attacked by Spaniards, as it the two nations had been 
at open war 

4. It vTould be scarcely possible, perhaps, to justify entirely the 
extraordinary forbearance of the British government, lor nearly 
twenty years, during which not only these indignities had been con 
tinually repeated, but express engagements, and promises to redress 
and abstain from such aggressions in future, notoriously violated. 
This had been remarkably the case with respect (o the stipulations 
of the treaty of Seville, concluded in the year 1,729. There were 
very warm debates in parliament on the subject, and the ministry 
weie hard pressed to defend themselves from the charge of supine- 
ness, gross indifference to the sufferings of the merchants, and the 
honour of the crown, and, in some instances, even of criminal conniv- 
ance. And, indeed, their opponents obtained, at length, this triumph 
over them, that tbe very convention which was to be the prelimina- 
ry ,of a perfect adjustment of differences, and a surety for the indem- 
nification of the merchants for all their losses, was, like every pre- 
ceding treaty and compact, disregarded by Spain, and war obliged 
to be declared before the year was out, to compel her to more 
just and equitable measures. The war, however, was not so success- 
ful as to render it clear tliat the pacific and wary proceedings of the 
British minister were otherwise than most prudent and wise, consid- 
ering the general circumstances of Europe. " Omnia prius expe- 
riri verbis quam armis sapientem decet," is a maxim which has 
been applied to the conduct of sir Robert Walpole, by an author, 
not backward to admit that, on some points, in regard to continental 
politics, the pacific system was carried too far. The period during 
which it prevailed will, certainly, lor ever be a remarkable era in 
English history, especially as the reigning sovereign was notor'ous 
ly a soldier, and by no means pei-sonally disposed to adopt so inactive 
a line of conduct. 

5. Though the people had been clamorous for the war with 
Spain, they were soon dissatisfied with the conduct of it, and that to 
so great a degree, as to compel the minister, sir Robert Walpole, 
though with considerable reluctance, to resign his appointments ; 
which took place in February, 1,742; the approbation of his sove- 
reign being manifested in his elevation to the peerage, by the title of 
earl of Oxford, lie was succeeded by lord Carteret. Sir Robert 
Walpole had been an able, intelligent, and prudent minister; a con- 
stant lover of peace, in the .way of defence and prevention; and 
upon this he prided himself: he was of the whig party, which ex- 
posed him much to the rancour, not only of those whose political 
opinions were different, but of many disappointed persons who 
thought with him. By these he was stigmatized as having reduced 
corruption to a system ; but by others, this charge was as confidently 
repelled ; nor would it be difficult to prove that, though he often spoke 
a? if he knew every man's price, he governed, not by corruption, 
l>ut by party attachments, as his friends and admirers have alleged. 
TJpDu two great occasions his plans were thwarted by some who 
' ved to see and correct their errors, as was the case, particularly, 
virith Mr. Pitt, in regard to the excise bill, first proposed to the house 
of commons in the year 1,732. There was never, perhaps, a case 
K which party, faction, and ignorance prevailed more over truth, 
and justice, and prudence. The bill was calculated to check and 
control the most gross and pernicious frauds upon the revenues ; to 
favour and encourage, in every possible manner, the fair dealer^ 



MODERN HISTORY. 275 

(and thlough him the public in general,) and by the savings pro- 
duced in the treasury, materially to lighten the public burthens: yet 
such a clamour was raised against the measure, from its first sugges- 
tion, as to oblige the minister to abandon it. 

C. The other measure, which brought great odium on this able 
minister of finance, was his trespass on the sinking fund, first estab- 
lished in 1,727, and which he made no scruple to alienate for public 
purposes, as occasion seemed to require. The very name of this* 
lund is not equally applicable to all times. At first it arose entirely 
from savings, and its perpetual or uninterrupted operation under such 
circumstances, woulcl appear to have been an indispensable part of 
its character.' It had been calculated as proceeding upon the basis 
of compound interest; while new loans and debts, contracted for 
pressing emergencies, were held to burthen the public in the way 
of simple interest only. But in these days, the whole state of the 
question is changed. The modern sinking fund is not a sinking fund 
of surpluses or savings, but in itself a borrowed fund; of great power 
and great utility, occasionally, but plainly at the command of the 
public, whenever the current expenses cannot be provided for at a 
less cost ; attd, indeed, often beneficially to be applied to such pur- 
poses, in greater or less proportions, to the avoidance of many 
heavy charges of management, high premiums, and new taxes. The 
aUenation of the original sinking lund, by sir Robert Walpole, how 
ever, has been very ably defended since, though opposed and resist- 
ed, at the time, with a virulence and animosity exceedingly distress- 
ing to that minister. 

7. The new administration, which came into power on the resig 
nation of Walpole, so littic answered the expectations of their 
friends, deviated so soon from the principles they had avowed, while 
in opposition, and seemed so much more disposed to espouse the 
cause of Hanover, at the expense, and to the loss, of England, in 
useless subsidies and foreign wars, than to attend lo the domestic 
diiHculties under which she was supposed to be labouring, that they 
became, in a very short time, quite as unpopular as their predeces- 
sors, and in 1,745, the very year in which Walpole died, the rebel- 
liouibroke out in Scotland. 

8; This(iittempt against ^the house of Hanover, undertaken by the 
heir of the Stuart iamily^ in person, was, undoubtedly, an ill-con- 
ducted, as it was ultimately an unsuccessful, enterprise ; though to 
call it altogether a weak one, would be contrary to historical truth. 
Its commencement, indeed, had all the appearance of the most ro- 
mantic infatuation, but in its progress it became so formidable, as 
even to threaten the capital of England, and the protestant sucres- 
tion ; nor was it subdued without great eflbrts and exertions on Uie 
part of the king^s forces, so unavailing and disheartening at firet, ;i3 
to render the issue of the contest extremely problematic^al. It Was, 
in fact, at the beginning, despised and neglected, by the lords of the 
regency, in the absence of the king, who was then at Hanover, ."^o 
that time was given for such an accession of friends and adherents to 
(he cause of the pretender, while the English army was left without 
any adequate reinlbrcements, that the rebels not only got possession 
of Edinburgh, after a very severe bv,"; most successful action with 
the English, at Preston Pans, but were able to march, unmolested, 
(iir int) England, and even to retreat, •!?. the face of a powerful army, 
under circumstances peculiarly creditable to the prowess, humanity, 
«T»d military skill of the Scottish commander. 



276 MODERN IliSTORY. 

9. Had the young prince met with the encotiragemeht he expecf> 
ed on his march to the south, lie might have possessed himself of the 
Enghrih, as he had done of the Scotch, capital ; but his hopes of aid 
were, considering all tilings, strangely an.d cruelly disappointed. 
Not a soul joined him, of any importance, though he had advanced 
nearly to the very centre of the kingdom; while the French failed 
to lidtil tlieir engagem.ent of invading the southern parts of f|;e 
inland, in order to divide and occupy the English army, so that his 
retreat becam.e a point of prudence perfectly inevitable, howevei 
Jiorlifying and grating to the gallant spirit of Charles, who un- 
t-'oubtodly manifested a strong disposition to proceed against all obsta- 
cles. 

10. The conrKct between the two nations, on this occasion, was 
greatly afFecled by the religious tenets and principles of the oppos- 
ing parties. Had Scotland been entirely catholic, the hopes of the 
Stuart family would have been extremely reasonable ; but it was. 
at this period, divided between the presbyterians and the catholics; 
tlio Lowhmders being of the former sect, and the liigbianders, gen- 
erally speaking, of the laUer. The presbyterian?, who had gained 
great advantages, in the way of toleration, by the revolution, having 
become whigs in principle, naturally adhered to the house of Han- 
over, vvl)i!e the catholic Highlanders were quite as fully and as nat- 
uially inclined to support their native prince. Nothing could be 
wistr, perhaps, under these circumstances, than the sending a prince 
L.f the blood to command the British forces, and, as it happened, no 
t.iiieer cf the British army could be more popular than the dukeef 
i'ufnberinnd, at this very period. His royal highness joined the 
'.my ;it Edinburgh, not long after the battle of Falkirk, in which 
'i:e English, under general Hawley, had recently sustained a check 
Tiie duke, indeed, had been expressly recalled Irom Flanders, to 
suppress tlie rebellion, which was, in no small degree, detrimental 
and injurious to the cause of the allies. 

!!• The conduct of the son of the pretender was certainly that 
of a brave but inconsiderate young man. Sanguine in his expecta- 
tions beyond what any circumstances of the case would completely 
i latif}, he, in more instances than one, committed himself too far, an'd 
at tbe very last exposed himself to a defeat, which might, at least, 
have been' suspended or mitigated, if not totally avoided. lie made 
•i stand against the king's ibrces at CuUoden, while his troops were 
in ;; bad condition for tighting, and v,hen it woukl oljviously have 
been better policy to have acted on the defensive ; to liave retired 
before Ids adversary, till he had led him into the more iinpractica- 
ble parts of the highiand.s, where all his military means would 
have" been crippled, and a retreat, perhaps, at least, have been 
re)i;lered indispensably necessary; but by risking the battle of CuUo- 
den, (April 16, 1,746') he lost every thing. The duke of Cumber- 
land gained a must decisive victory ; and so completely subdued the 
hopes and spirits of his young opponent, that he never afterwards 
joined his frie-uls, though solicited, and indeed engaged, so to do ; but 
wandering about the country for a considerable time, with a price of 
^:30,U00 set on his head, after enduring incredible hardships and 
di/Ticulties, embarked for France ; and tlius terminated for ever the 
elrnggles of that exiled and deposed family to recover its ancient 
dominions. The very remarkable instances of attachment, fidelity, 
and pure hospitality,* by which, after the battle of Culloden, the 
unfortiuiate fugitive was preserved from the hands of his pursuers, 



MODERN HISTORY. 2T7 

surpass any thing of the; Idnd recorded in history, and reflect indelihle 
:;re(lit on the high and disinterested feelings and principles of those 
wlio assisted him in his escape. 

12. The most melancholy circumstance attending this rash nn- 
derlaking, was the necessity that arose for making examples of those 
who had abetted it, in order more securely to tix on the throne oi 
«ireat Britain the reigning lamily; who, having acquired that right 
in the most constitutional manner, could not be dispossessed of it, but 
bv an unpardonable violation of the law. Of the excesses committed 
by the English troops after the battle of Culloden, it is to be hoped, 
as indeed it has been asserted, that the accounts are exaggerated: 
but in the common course of justice, many persons, and soine of the 
highest rank, underwent the sentence of death for high treason, 
whose crime, through a melancholy infatuation, must in their own 
eyes have e.ppeared the very reverse, and whose loyalty and ;iliach- 
ment, under different circumstances, and with the law and constitution 
on their side, would have deserved the highest praise. Though 
many of the adherents of the pretender suffered, many of them 
made their escape beyond sea, and arrived safely at the diflerenl 
ports of the continent. No attempts have since been made by any ol 
the catholic descendants of the royal family of Great Britain to dis- 
turb the protestant succession in the house of Brunswick. 

13. This illustrious house sustained a very unexpected and nie'- 
ancholy loss^ in the year 1,750, by the death of his royal highness 
the prince ot Wales, father of his late majesty ; who, in consequence 
of a colli caught in his gardens at Kew, died of a pleuritic disorder, 
ou the twentieth day of March, in the forty-fifth year of his age. 
He H'as a prince endowed vvilh many amiable qualities ; a munilicent 
patron of the arts,, a friend to merit, and sincerely attached to the in- 
terests of Great Britain. 

14. In the course of the year 1,751,1a remarkable act \vas passed 
in parliament, for correcting the culerTdar, according to the Gregori- 
an computation. It was enacted, that the new year should begin 
on tlie tirst of January, and that eleven days between the second and 
fourteenth days of September, 1,752, should for that time be omitted, 
so that the day succeeding the second, should be called the fourteenth 
of that month. This change was on many accounts exceedingly im- 
portant, but to persons wholly unacqu;unled with astronomy, it ap- 
peared a strangely arbitrary interterence with tlie currency aiid set- 
tled distinctions of time. 

15. Though the treaty of Aix-!a-Chapelle, in 1,748, may ])e said 
to have restored peace to Europe, the English and French came to 
no good understanding with regard to their remote settlements. 
The war in those parts involved the interests of the natives or set- 
tlers, as well as of the two courts, and scarcely seems to have fallen 
under the consideration of the negotiating ministers, hi the east and 
in the west many disputes and jealousies were raised, which though 
relerred to special commissioners to adjust, in no long course of time 
involved both countries in a fresh war, the particulars of v.hich will 
be found elsewhere : a war which extended to all parts of the globe, 
and continued beyond the reign of George H., who died sudrlenly 
at Kensington, in 1,760, in the 77th year of his age, and 34th of his 
reign. 

iLi. Georgell. was a prince of high integrity, honour, and vera- 
city, but of a warm and irritable temper, oC a wariiko disposition, 
and though for a long time restrained by his pacific minister, sir 



£76 MODEKiN iilsTOKV. 

Robert Walpole, iVom (akinjj any active part in the disputes of the 
continent, yet constantly inclined to do so, from an attachment, very 
natural, though unpopular amongst his British subjects, to his Ger- 
man dominions, tie was greatly under the intluence of his queen, 
while she lived, "whose mild, prudent, and conriliatins; manners," 
to use the words of a very impartial and judicious biographer, 
'• were more congenial to the character of the English nation." 
Queen Caroline had indeed many great and splendid virtues ; though 
ol most amiable and domestic habits, she was well versed in the 
politics of Europe, and had considerable literary attainments, which 
disposed her to be a friend to learned persons, particularly to many 
members of the church, ot which several striking and remarkable 
instances have been recorded, it is sutficient to mention the names 
of Herring, Clarke, Hoadley, Butler fSherlock, Hare, Seeker, and 
Pearce. She was the daughter of John Erederick, margrave of 
Biandenburgh Anspach, and was born in tlie year 1,683. She was 
married to his majesty in 1,705, and had issue two sons and five 
daughters. Her death, w hich cccassioned great grief to her royal 
consort and family, took place on the 2Uth of I\ovember, 1,733, 
when she was in the oolh year of her age. 



SECTION V. 

STATE OF EUROPE AT THE CONCLUSlOiN OF THE PEACE 
OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, 1,748. 

1. By the treaty of Aix-la-ChapcUo the house of Hanover wa3 
frflectually established on the throne of Great Britain, to the entire 
exclusion of the Stuart family. Though the peace was not popular 
in Englanil, and she was supposed by many to have made too great, 
and in sorne instances ignominious concessions, yet it was certainly 
fortunate for her that the continental powers confined their views to a 
l>alance which did not extend to the sea ; and thereby left in her 
hands a force, beyond calculation superior to that of the other 
countries of Europe, and amounting almost to a monopoly of com- 
merce, credit, and wealth, so as to render her, as it were, the chief 
agent or principal, in all political movements, for the time to come. 
Her prosperity, indeed, had been on the increase, in no common de 
gree, from the accession ol' the Brunswick lamily. 

2. Austria lost, by the treaty of 1,748, Silesia and Glatz, the 
duchies of Parma, Placentia, and Guastaila, and some places in 
the Milanese : but she succeeded, and chielly at the expense of her 
allies, in the article of the succession. All Ibrmer treaties were 
formally recognised, which involved indeed other losses to the em- 
pire, if compared with the time of tfharles \ ; but the dominions 
of the latter were certainly too extensive, and too detached, to form 
a great and stable empire. Thi^^, indeed, may be said to have been 
the case with regard even to the reduced domains of Charles VI.; 
Liut his high-spirited daughter, Maria Theresa, was to the last indig- 
nant at the losses she had sustained. She corrected the error into 
which she had fallen with regard to Genoa, aixl which occasioned 
great commotions there, by consenting to let ih^; marquisale of Final 
revert to that republic, wLich had been very arbitrarily given, in 
the course of the war, .15 a bribe to the king of Sardinia, and made 
a free port, to the evident disadvantage of the Genoese, who had 



MODEHN HISTORY. 279 

originally purchased it for a valuable consideration, under the guar- 
antee of Great Britain. 

o. Prussia gained, by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, Silesia, and 
the county of Giatz, which were guaranteed to her by all the con- 
tracting powers; and by this accession of territory she was raised 
into the condition of a power capable of entering into the field ol 
action, as a rival of Austria ; which might have been foseseen, when 
Leopold erected it into a kingdom, for the express purpose of coun- 
terbalancing the power of France. As it was, the unity of the em- 
pire seemed to be dissolved, and a door set open to future revolutions 
m the Germanic body. The character and subsequent achievements 
of Frederick II. contributed greatly to the aggrandizement of his do- 
minions. He was active, bold, fond of glory, and indefatigable. He 
was brave in the field, and wise in the cabinet. Desirous of shininp' 
in all that he undertook, he was indeflitigable in keeping his army 
constantly ready for all emergencies, and in repairing the damages to 
which his dominions had been subjected by his ambition. He drew 
to him many eminent persons of all countries, of whose society he 
pretended to be ibnd ; but he oftentimes showed himself to be a 
most merciless tyrant, a blunderer in political economy, aid, if not 
quite an atheist, very lax in his principles of religion. 

4. Holland lost much by the peace, and gained nothing. Some, 
iinieed, doubted whether she did not greatly endanger her indepen- 
dence^ by consenting to make the stadtholdership hereditary in the 
house ol Orange, and that in favour of the female as well as male 
heii-s of the family : but others conceived that this approach to me- 
narchical government greatly strengthened the republic ; and it would 
indeed seem that it had declined much in power and consequence, 
from the very period when that office was abolished, in the preced- 
ing century. One precaution was adopted with regard to the female 
heirs to the Stadtholdership : they were precluded from marrying any 
king, or elector of the empire ; a precaution which there were, in 
the history of Europe, sufficient reasons to justify. 

5. Simin obtained, for two branches of her royal family, the king- 
dom of Naples, and the duchies of Parma, Placentia, and Guastalla: 
the latter to revert to Austria, that is, Parma and Guastalla, and Pla- 
centia to vSardinia, should the new duke, don Phifip, die without issue, 
or succeed to either of' the kingdoms of Spain or Naples. But the 
power of Spain was not much increased, either by land or sea. On 
the latter, indeed, the English had an overwhelming superiority; 
and, on land, though her armies were brave, they were generally ill 
conducted, and her government too bad to render her respectable 
in the eyes of Europe. Ferdinand VI., indeed, tlie successor of 
PhiUp, who came to the throne just before the conclusion of the 
treaty, applied himself, with no small degree of credit, to retrieve 
the character of the nation. 

6. Austria, by seeking an alliance with Russia^ had introduced the 
latter power into the southern states of Europe, and given her consid- 
erable weight and consequence, as a counterbalance to her great 
rival, France. Scarcely known at the commencement of the century, 
the movement impressed unon this mighty empire by the extraor- 
dinary genius and vigour of Peter the first, had carried her forward, 
with a rapid progression; so that, by the middle of the century, she 
might justly be regarded as amongst the most considerable powers of 
Europe. Her armies were, perhaps, more than semi-barbarous; bul 
they were brave, indefatigable, hardy, ano supported by the reli- 



2ai) MOJJERxX HISTORY. 

eious principle of prerlestination ; tlie foundation of a desperate 
kind or liardihood, seldom to be resisted. Her Internal resource' 
were not ;u all considerable, bnt they were daily iin[)rovii)^. \\ Inn 
Peter the lirst came to the crown, her revenues amounted lo «ix 
millions ofrou[)les; in 1,748 they were nearly qnadriipled. 'I'lins 
rapidly advancing, with one arm reaching lo the Baltic, iaid the 
other to the Black sea, it was very obvious to discern that when, l)y 
good management, her gigantic body should be. duly invigorated, 
she had every chance of becoming a most formidable power. 
Already had she shown herself such, to a great degree, in the intlu- 
cnce she had acquired in Sweden, Dennijuk, and Poland ; in her 
commercial treaties with England, her alliance with Austria, and her 
wars with the Turks. Her resources and means of improvement 
were great ; rivers not only navigable during the summer, but (hning 
the winter also, affording, by meflns oi' sledges, every opportunity 
of a quick and easy transport of all sorts ot commercial goods ; the 
greater part of her southern provinces fertile, and requiring little 
culture ; mines of gold, iron, and copper: great quantities ol"timl)er, 
pitch, tar, and hemp. She had not yet learned to manufacture her 
owi^, productions, or Jo export them in her own ships, and ccr.sc- 
quently to make the most of them: but she was in tne way to learn 
such arts, and when once attained, she had the fairest prospects of 
acquiring a decided superiority, not only in the Baltic, and White 
sea, l)ut on the Black sea and Caspian. 

7. Turkey, at the middle of the eighteenth century, was compar- 
atively a gainer by the wars in which she had been engaged. She 
had taken the Morca from .the Venetians, recovered from Austria 
Belgrade, Servia, and some provinces of Transylvania and VVallachia, 
and had hitherto baffled the attempts of Russia, to get absolute pos- 
session of the Crimea, and of the mouths of the Danube. 

S. France obtained little in point of extent by the treaty of Aix- 
la-Chapelle, but tliat little was of extreme importance. The posses- 
sion of Lorraine, in addition to Alsace, and several strong forts on the 
Rhine, slrenglbened and completed, in the most perfect manner, her 
eastern frontier, and placed her in a most conunanding attitude w ith 
regard to the German states. During the administration ol cardinal 
Fleury, which lasted till the year 1,743, her marine had been de- 
plorably neglected, while the English had been able to enrich them- 
sel\ es at the expense of the French, particularly by intercepting 
many valuable convoys, and capturing many ships of her reduced navy. 

9.' An author of reputation has proposed to throw the different 
European states, at the conclusion of the peace of 1,748, into the 
four tol lowing classes : — 

1. Those that having armies, fleets, money, and territorial resour 
se!--, could make war without foreign alliances. Such were England 
and France. 

2. Those that with considerable and poAverful armies, were de- 
pendent on foreign resources. Austria, Prussia, and Russia. 

3. Those that could not engage in war, but in league with other 
states, subsidized by tliem, and always regarded in the liglit of sec- 
ondary powers by the large ones. Portugal, Sardinia, Svveden, 
Denmark. 

4. Such as were intcre>ted in maintaining themselves in the same 
Qontlition, and free from the encroachment of others. Switzerland, 
Genoa, Venice, and the German slates. 

Holland, Spain, and Naples, being omitted in the above account, 



MODERN HISTORY. 231 

might reasonably be thrown into a fifth class, as countries generally 
so connected with England, France, and Austria, as to be constantly 
involved in every war aiTecting either of those countries. 



SECTION VI. 
OF THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR, 1,775—1,762. 

1. TiiouuH for some short time after the conclusion of the peace 
of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1,748, England and France seemed to enjoy, 
in no common degree, the blessings of peace, and to be upon a foot- 
ing of perfect amity with each other, yet it would appear thnt the 
seeds of a future vvar were sown in the very circumstances of that 
convention. England was left in possession ol such a preponderating 
force at sea, while the French marine, through the parsimony or in- 
attention of cardinal Fleury, had fallen into so low a state of depres- 
sion, that it is not to be wondered that all who were interested about 
the latter, should have their minds tilled with jealousy and resentment. 
This was soon manifested, not only b}" the vigorous attempts made at 
this time to restore the marine of France, but in the projects formed 
for dispossessing the English of their principal settlements in the East 
Indies and America ; a blow which might have been far more fatal to 
the English nation, than any leagues or confederacies in favour of the 
pretender. To secure the co-operation and support of Spain iu these 
designs, France had endeavoured, in the year 1,753, to draw the lat- 
ter into a family compact, which, though afterwards brought about, 
was at this time succes=:fully frustrated, by the extraordinary care 
and vigilance of the British minister at Madrid. 

2. The peace established in Europe in 1,748, can scarcely be said 
to have ever been eifectually extended to Asia and America. The 
conquests on each side indeed had been relinquished and surrendered 
by that treaty, but in a most negligent manner with respt'ct to limits 
and boundaries ; and in each of those distant settlements, France at 
that time happened to have able and enterprising servants, who 
thought they saw, in their respective governments, such menus of 
aggrandizing themselves and their country, and of thwarting the 
British interest, as wer« not to be overlooked or neglected. In the 
East Indies very extraordinary attempts were made to reduce flit 
whole peninsula of India Proper, in short, the whole Mogul empire, 
under the dominion of France, by an artlul interlei-ence iu the a}> 
pointment of the governors of kingdoms and provinces, the Souhak- 
dars^jYabubs, and Rujalis. The pukver of the mogul had been irrevoca- 
bly shaken by ICouli-lvhan, in 1,738, from which time the viceroys 
and other suijordinate governors had slighted his authority, and, in 
a greater or less degree, become independent. The interference of 
the French was calculated to throw things into confusion, by dispos- 
sessing those who were adverse to them of their governments and 
territories, and thus compelling them. ;is it were, to seek succour Irom 
the English ; which uitim itely brought the tvvo rival nations of Eu- 
rope into a state of hostility, not as avowed principals, but as the 
auxiliaries of the different native princes or nabobs. In no long 
course of time, things took a turn entirely in iavour of the English 
and their allies; the French \yere baffled in all their projects, every 
place they possessed taken I'rom them, a suspension of arms agreed 
upon, in 1,754. and t.he French governor, Dupleix, the ambitious and 

A a 2 :»6 



£82 MODERN HISTORY. 

en(erprii«ing author and fomenter of nil tho troubles, but who had 
Wen ill-supported by his government al home, recalled from India. 

3. It \vas at this period that the celebrated Mr. Clive, a'tervni-rls 
lord Clive, lirst dislingiiished himseiti who iiad not only di-f^-nmi^ ' 
enough to see through and detect all the arlilices an«l de:*ignsof 
Dupleix, but, though not brought up to the military proli-f-!-i(in,?o<>u 
displayed such skill and courage in conducting the operations oi lue 
army, as speedily established his lame, and laid the loundation tor his 
I'utuie elevaliouand glory. 

4. hi America, the boundaries of the ceded provinces not having 
Iteen justly delined in the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, the French hud 
formed a design of connecting, l)y a chain of Ibits, their two distant 
colonies of Canada and Louisiana, and to confine the Englisli entirely 
within that tract of country which lies between the Alleghany and 
.\palachian mountains and the sea. No part of this design could be 
Carried on without manifest encroachment on territories previously, 
either by agreement, settlement, or implication, appropriated to 
others! Where the boundaries were not precisely delined, all that was 
not English or French, belonged to the native tribes, and the only 
policy that the European colonists had to observe, was to conciliate 
the friendship, or resist the attacks of these I'crocious neighbo'urs. But 
the scheme the French liad in agitation threatened to be extremely 
injurious to Mie English colonists ; givhig them, in case of war, a fron- 
tier of fifteen hundred miles to defend, not merely against a nice of 
savages, as heretolbre, but against savages supported t)y disci[)lined 
troops, and c'^nductcd Ijy French othcers. 

5. it was not pos-ible tor J'".ngland long to contemplate these ag- 
gressions and projects without interfering ; but her means of resisting 
them xvere nr t equal to those by w liich the French were enableil to 
carry them i"to execution. The English colonies were notoriously 
divided by distinct views and interests ; had many disagreements and 
dilVereuces among themselves, which seemed, (or some time at least 
totally to prevent their acting in concert, however necessary to 
their best interests. The French depended on no such precarious 
sujjport, but were united both in their objfct and openitions. Hos- 
tilities, howeier, did not actually commence till the year 1,755, from 
which period the contest in North America was carried on with 
various suc'ess, between the French and English, severally assisted 
By dilierent tril^es df Indians ; in the comse of which, it is niore thtin 
probable, that sad acts of cruelty may have been perpetrated, and 
()oth Jiations have been to blame in some particulars; but it is cer- 
tainly remarkable, that each party stands charged exclusively with 
such atrocities by the historians of die adverse side ; and wliili'. the 
English writers attribute the whole war to the intrigues and en- 
croachments of the French, the latter as confidently ascriiie it to the 
cupidity and aggressions of the English. It is very certahi, however, 
that, before the war actually commenced, the French court mide 
such strong but insinceie professions of amity, and a desire nf peace, 
as to deceive its own minister at the court of St. Jami-s's, .M. de 
Mirepoix, who Jelt himself so ill-treated in iieing made the tnol of 
3Jcli duplicity and dissimulation, as to cause hini to re,j;ur to l*aris, 
to re.ronslrate with the adhiinislration who had so cajoled him. It 
IS ner.f>*,sHry to mention these things, where historicu> truth is the 
great ob)ect in view. 

b. At ihe commencement of this contest between France and 
England, the former seoms to have been most succesrful on land : 



MODERN HISTORY. 28y 

but the latter, and to a much greater degree, at sea. Before the 
end of the first year of the war, no less than three hundred French 
merchant vessels, some of them extremely rich, with eight thousand 
sailors, being brought into the English ports; and while the rate of 
insurance in the latter country continued as usual, in France it 
quickly rose to 30 per cent., a pretty strong indication of the com- 
paralive irileriority of the latter, as far as regarded her marine, and 
the safely of her navigation. 

7. But it was soon found expedient by one, if not by both parties, 
to divert the attention from colonial to continental objects ; a meas- 
ure which, as in a fo'mer i. /stance, the French writers ascribe 
entirely to England, and the English writers as conlidently to France ; 
but it "is sutficienlly clear that the latter first entertained views upon 
the electonite of Hanover, which gave that turn to the war in gen- 
eral. Considering what had passed in the preceding struggle upon 
the continent, nothing could be more strange than the conduct of the 
different states of Europe on this particular occasion. Instead of 
rect;iving assistance from the empress queen, whose cause England 
had so long and so magnanimously supported, and who was bound 
by treaty to contribute her aid in case of attack, Maria Theresa 
evaded the applications made to her by the court of St. James's, 
(perhaps in rather too high and peremptory a tone,) on the pretence 
tbat the war between France and England had begun in America; 
and she applieo nerself with peculiar assiduity to recover, through 
tlie aid of Russia, the provinces of Silesia and Glatz, which had been 
ceded to the Prussian monarch. 

8. It has been conjectured that her imperial majesty had been 
greatly offended at the preliminaries of peace, in 1,748, having 
been signetl by England without her approbation, a:«l that she was 
cipahle of carrying her resentmcnt'so far as voluntas Hy to throw 
hirself into the arms of France, without further con; "deration ,» 
while the French king, whose strange coui-so of life had been too 
openly ridiculed by the king of Pruesia, foolishly suifered himself to 
be cajoled into an alliance vvith Austria, after three hundred years v ♦" 
warliire. against i»is tormer ac'ive and powerful ally ; thereby break* 
ing through the wise system of Richelieu, and helping to raise the 
very power, of whose greatness France had the most reason to be 
jealous; but Maria Theresa, and her minister, prince Kaunitz, to 
pi'oduce this great change in the policy of France, had stooped to 
ll itter and conciliate the king's mistress, the marchioness ot Pom- 
pjidour. 

y. Fortunately for England, however, the conduct of these two 
courts quickly determined the king of Prn-sia to tbrm an alliance 
witii the elector of Hanover; to stifle and forget all former differ- 
ences and animosities, and peremptorily to resist the entrance of for- 
eign troops into Germany; a measure which, though first directed 
against Russia, subsidized by England, equally applied to France. 
\n alliance between the kings of Great Britain and Prussia had long 
been contemplated by some of the ablest statesmen of the former 
couf try, as the most natural and wisest connexion that could be 
ibrmed to cotmteract the projects and power of Fnince. Hitherto 
strong personal jealousies ajid ill-will on the part of the two sove- 
reigns had prevented any such union, and now it was brought about 
by accident; much more, however, to the advantage of Prussia than 
of Great Britain. It had been proposed in England, to subsidize 
Rusua, but the negotiations of the former with the king of Pruswa, 



2tf4 MODERN HISTORY. 

kvhom the czarina personally disliked, produced a close but unex- 
pected union of Russia, Austria, and France ; not so much against 
England, perhaps, as against Prussia, nor yet so much against the 
kingdom of Prussia as against the king himself. 

10. Such was the commencement of whit has been termed the 
'seven years' war. It seemed soon to bo forgotten that it was origin- 
ally a maritime or colonial war. The whole vengeance of France 
and Austria, in 1,757, was directed against the king of Prussia, and 
electorate of Hanover. The Prussian monarch, relying on his well- 
organized army and abundant treasury, despised the powerful com- 
bination against him, and commenced the war in a most imposing, 
though precipitate manner, by dispossessing, at the very outset, tlifc 
king of Poland, elector of Saxony, in alliance with Austria, of hi» 
capital, of his whole army, and of his electoral dominions, in a way 
little creditable to his character, notwithstanding the strong political 
motives alleged in his subsequent manifestoes. The situation ol 
France, by this sudden manoeuvre, was certainly rendered most ex- 
traordinary. At the commencement of the former war, she had 
done her utmost to dethrone Augustus, king of Poland, in favourof 
Stanislaus, whose daughter had married the French king ; and she 
had now just as strong and urgent a reason to assist in restoring Au- 
gustus to his hereditary dominions, the daughter of the latter being 
married to the dauphin, and the life of the dauphiness having been 
endangered by the intelligence received of the rigorous treatment of 
her royal parents. 

1 1 . It was during the seven years' war, that Frederic of Prussia 
acquired that glory in the field which has rendered his reign so 
conspicuous and remarkable. The intended victim, as he had great 
reason to suppose, of an overwhelming confederacy of crowned 
heads, he lost no time in delending himself against their attacks, by 
occupying the territories of those who threatened him, so suddenly 
and arbitrarily indeed, with regard to Saxony, as to give otiience to 
the greater pant of Europe; but generally contending with surprising 
success against superior armies, though incessiuiHy summoned from one 
field of battle to another, by the numerous and divided attacks of his 
opponents : nor was there one of all the powers that menaced bin., 
whom he did not tind means to humble, and in some instances punish 
most severely, at first, with an impetuosity bordering upon rashness; 
afterwards, by more wary and circumspect proceedings. In Silesia, 
Saxony, Brandenbourg, Hanover, and Wcstplialia, he had to contend 
with the armies of the empire, Austria, Russia, Sweden, France, and 
Saxony : 2tX),(X)0 men are supposed to have fallen annually in these 
campaigns. Though often worsted, (as must be the case, where no 
consideration of superior numbers is allowed to operate as a check,) his 
great genius was never more manifested, than in the quick reparation 
of sucn reverses. Often did his situation appear perfectly desperate, 
both to friends and enemies, yet as often did he suddenly succeed in 
some new efl'ort, and in extricating himself from disasters which 
threatened entirely to overwhelm him; being all the while under 
the ban of the empire, in virtue of a decree of the aulic council, 
which bound every German circle, in obedience to the imperial 
orders, to assist in depriving him of his possessions, dignities, and 
prerogatives. The rapidity of his motions was beyond all example ; 
neither danger nor misfortune could dishearten him ; and had his 
moderation been but equal to his courage, had he, in all cases, been 
m humaDe as he was brave, his military character wouki have 



MODERN HISTORY. 286 

stood higher, perhaps, than that of any other commander, ancient or 
mofiern. 

12. The army, it must be acknowledged, for some time afforded 
but iittis a!<sislaiic« to, if it did not .ictually embarrass, the operations 
of Frederic. A tbrmidabie force of 38,000 Hanoverian, Hessian, 
and other troops, under the command of the duke of Cumberland, 
had, in a most extiaordinyy manner, been reduced, though neither 
beatjn nor actually disarmed, to a state of inactivity, and the king's 
Ciormaa dominions al)andoned to the enemy, by a convention the 
most singular upon the records of history ; and if actually necessary, 
only rendered so by the impolitic movements of the commander-in- 
chief, who, instead of endeavouring to join the Prussians, after a 
sharp contest, in which the French had the advantage, retreated in a 
totally different direction, merely lo keep up, as it has been supposed, 
a conmiunication with the place to which the archives and most 
valuabk* effects of Hanover had been removed. 

13. This convention, indeed, signed at Closter-seven, September 
8, 1,757, was said to have been concluded against the wishes of the 
royal commander himself, and entirely at the instance and requisition 
of the regency of Hanover. Be this, however, as it may, it was un- 
doubtedly almost fital to the king of Prussia, and exceedingly 
humiliating to England, though ultimately attended with this good 
effect, lliat it seems to have roused and stimulated both the people 
and gcvernment to greater exertions. Unfortunately much of tliis 
good spirit and renewed activity was wasted in fruitless attempts on 
the coast of France, which cost the nation much money, and, as it 
turned out contributed little or nothing to her glory and advantage; 
tiie demolition of the^ works at Cherburg, and capture of Belle Isle, 
1,761, which was of use afterwards, as an exchange for Minorca, 
being all she had to boa^ of. To her great and indefatig.able ally, 
the idns^ of Prussia, these expeditions to the French coast could be 
of no use, except in diverting a part at least of the French forces, 
which might otherwise have been opposed to him ; but they had 
scarcely tlii-^ effect, and though that great minister, Mr. Pitt, after- 
wards lord Chatham, appears to have been the chief promoter of 
these measures, in opposition to many members of the British 
cabinet, the policy of tliem,even had they been more successful, has 
been pretty generally questioned. Her soldiers, many thought, were 
principally wanting in Gerniany, llie grand theatre of military opera- 
tions, to strengthen and give erfectto the judicious and bold measures 
of prince Ferdinand, who, being, by the advice, it is said, of the 
Prussian monarch, on tliO retirement of the duke of Cumberland, 
alter the convention spoken of, placed at the head of the alliea 
army, had succeeded in compelling the French to evacuate Hanover, 
Brunswick, and Bremen. F^ngland indeed had been hberal in her 
subsidies, even to a degree that some thought unwise and extrava. 
gant, and she had i)een successful in America, Asia, Africa, and gen- 
erally on the ocean. The French navy indeed, was almost annihdat- 
ed ; and her colonies, both in the east and west, had fallen a prey to 
tlie English aimies ; even Canada, the source and focus, as it were, ol 
the transatlantic disputes between England and France, was complete- 
ly subdued by the armies under the command of Wolfe, Townshend, 
Monckton, Murray, and Amherst, who displayed such zeal, valour, 
and abilities, in the capture of the towns of Q,uehec and Montreal, as 
have never been exceeded. 

14. Though prince Ferdinand had driven the French back, it wa« 



286 MODERN HISTORY, 

doubted whether the forces under his command would be sufficient 
to maintain these advantages; apprehensions, indeed, were entertain- 
ed, that he might be reduced totorm another convention as humiliat- 
ing as that of Closter-seven. But the genius and valour of this 
great prince surmounted the difficulties in which he seemed to be 

Placed, by most judiciously, and with no small art, compelling the 
rench to come to an engagement, under circumstances peculiarly 
favourable to the allied army ; and the battle of Minden, which took 
place August 1, 1,759, though the subject afterwards of much jealousy 
amongst the allies, effectually relieved the electorate of Hanover, and 
the greater part of Westphalia, from the presence of the French. 

15. It was at this period, August 10, 1,759, that Ferdinand V I., 
of Spain, died, and was succeeded by his brother, don Carlos, king 
of the two Sicilies, under the title of Charles III., in consequence 
of which succession, and according to the terms of the treaty ot 
Aix-la-Chapelle, don Philip should have surrendered the duchies of 
Parma, Placentia, and Guastalla to Austria and Sardinia, and remov- 
ed to Naples, (see Sect. V. § 5 ;) but as Charles III. had never acced- 
ed to that treaty, he left the crown of the two Sicilies to his third sou, 
l-erdinand, and don Philip agreed, and was allowed by Austria, to 
retain the three duchies; the courts of France and Spain having 
managed to quiet the alarms of Sardinia, in regard to the reversion 
of Placentia. 

16. The removal of don Carlos to Spain, at a time when so many 
advantages had been gained over the French by the English, at sea 
and in America, justly alarmed the new monarch for his own colonies 
and settlements in those parts ; and these apprehensions soon became 
a. reason for his entering into a family compact with France, which 
had been attempted before, but frustrated by the care and vigilance 
of the British minister. It was in tact entirely arranged and con- 
cluded in the month of August, 1,761, and* extended to all the Bour- 
hon princes ; it was a treaty of mutual and reciprocal naturaUzation, 
and equality of rights, to the subjects of all the Bourbon states, 
France^ Spain^ the two Sicilies^ Furnia, and Placentia, with a general 
guarantee of each other''s dominions, under all possible circumstances 
except owe, which was, that Spain should be excused from interfering 
in any quarrels of France, arising out of the treaty of Westphalia, 
unless some maritime power should take part in such disputes, or 
France be invaded. 

17. The above clause in the treaty was judged to be so evidently 
aimed at England, as to justify an immediate declaration of war 
against Spain on the part of the former, which accordingly look 
place early in the year 1 ,762 ; nor was Spain backward in following 
the example against England, in resentment, as it was alleged, of the 
supercilious and arbitrary manner, in which the latter had interfered 
with regard to the family compact. 

18. The first fruits of this extraordinary confederacy were a gross 
attempt upon the independency of Portugal, as an ally of England, 
by France and Spain ; an attempt the most appalling to Portugal, 
had not her brave and honourable sovereign resolved rather to per- 
ish than to submit to tbe terms dictated to him by the combined mon- 
nrchs. England was in every way bound to give aid and support to 
her ancient and faithful ally, on so trying an occasion ; and, fortunately, 
her help came so opportunely and so promptly, as to enable the 
king of Portugal to repel the Spaniards, who had not only passed the 
froDtiere, but actually taken several towns. Thus was that nionarch 



MODERN iliSTORV. 207 

and his dominions saved from the effects of as wicked and ar]>itrary 
a desijjii as was ever entertained against an independent or neutral 
potentate, and tliut on tiie sole ground of his connexion with Eng- 
land at the moment; to whose resentment he would of course have 
been exposed, hail he tamely submitted to the tyrannical demands of 
Fr.mce and Spain. In either case, he seemed to be threatened with 
ruin and destruction, had things taken a diflerent turn, from what 
actually came to pass. 

li). The hostilities into winch Great Britain was driven by this 
unprovoked attack upon Portugal, as well as by the threatening 
aspect and spirit of ibe famiiy coinpacU v/hich seemed to undo all 
that had been accomplished by the succession war, were in every 
instance crowned with success ; so that in both hemispheres, her arms 
may be said to have been victorious, and her triumph complete ; and 
Spain had great cause to rue her short concern in the war, into 
which she had been cajoled by France, and which operated as fully 
to the disappointment of the latter power, hi the mean while, the 
king of Prussia, who had been brought to the very verge of ruin, 
according to his own statement and confession, was most unexpect- 
edly relieved by surprising changes in the Russian councils, through 
the demise of Elizalieth, and accession of Peter III., whose reign in- 
deed was too short to enable him to render any real assistance to 
the king of Prussia, in the tieid, which might have been expected 
from the enthusiastic admiration with which his actions were beheld 
by the Russian monarch. But this weak, though benign prince, in 
consequence of his too extensive plans of reform, and a difference 
with his empress, was soon removed ; and though his successor and 
consort, Catherine the second, did not by any means pay the same 
court to Frederic, yet her opposition to him was very slight, and 
soon terminated by a treaty of peace, in which she was followed by 
Sweden. 

20. All these thing.? evidently tended towards a general peace, if 
England, who had certainly been the most successful of all the pow- 
ers concerned, could be brought to consent to be stopped in her 
career of victory and triumph. A change of ministry had, however, 
laid the foundation for such measures. Mr. Pitt, who was for the 
continuance of the war, on some private information, as it has been 
tiiought, of the progress and terms of the family compact, had re- 
signed soon after the demise of the king, George II. ; and lord Bute, 
who owed his place and power as minister, much more to the per- 
sonal good-will and attachment of the new king, than to the voice 
and favour of the people, tbreseeing that it might be diflicult for 
him to raise either money or men for the prosecution of the war, 
(bounties for recruits, in particular, having risen to an unexampled 
height,) and having against him many important individuals of both 
parties, entered freely into negotiations with France, which were 
brought to an issue by the peace of Paris, (or Fontainebleau,) 1,763. 

21. This treaty vvas not popular in England, though, undoubtedly, 
she reaped the benefit of many remarkable concessions, particularly 
m America, where she acquired, not only the whole province of 
Canada, but part of Louisiana ; the junction of which two distant 
French settlements, to the embarrassment, and possibly, total subjec- 
tion of the English colonies, had been the express occasion of tha 
war; but by many persons it was thought, and perhaps with great 
reason, that England had surrendered too much, considering the 
high situatioti in which she stood, and the advantages that micht 



588 MODERN HISTORY. 

have been reaped by a little longer continuance of the war; an^l in 
what she both surrendered and retained, an ill and impolitic seltc- 
tion, it was alleged, had been made of posts and settlements. The 
treaty of Hubertsburg, by which the war was terminated between 
Austria and Prussia in the same year, 1,763, restored matters, in re- 
gard to those two powers, exactly to their former state, after seven 
most destructive and expensive campaigns ! Nothing of territory 
y\-as lost and nothing gained by either party. England, undoubtedly, 
»vas left in the highest state of prosperity at the conclusion of these 
two treaties. Her navy unimparcd, or liither augmented at the ex- 
pense of the navy of France ; her commerce extending from one 
extremity of the globe to the other, with an accession of important 
settlements ceded to her by France in Asia, Africa, and America. 



SECTION VII. 

FROM THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE III. ^,'160, TO THE COM 
MENCEMENT OF THE DISPUTES WITH AMERICA, 1,764. 

1. Though a new enemy, for a very short lime, was added to th« 
list of those who were contending with England and her allies 
when George the second died, liy the accessi-^n of Spain to ths 
Jfliinily compact^ and continental confederacy, in 1,761, yet the sevei. 
years'' war, through the exhauslion of the allies of Ausli'ia, pr.r 
ticularly the Saxons, Poles, and French, may be said to have beer, 
drawing to a conclusion, when George 111. ascendoil the throne oi 
Great Britain, on the demise of his grandfather, October 25, 1,760. 
For the termination of that war, see Sect. V}. 

2. Much notice was taken of a passage in the king's (irst speech 
tn his parliament, in which he expressed the glory he felt in havi'ig 
been born and educated in Britain ; and though sc'me have pretended 
to see in it, a retlection on his royal predecessors, yet it was surely 
wise in the lirst sovereign of the house of Hanover, who stood clear 
of foreitjn manners, and foreign partialities, so to bespeak the love 
and attachment of bis subjects. It is true, indeed, that England had 
prospered in no common degree from the first accession of that 
illustrious family, but it cannot be denied, that a distaste of foreigu 
manners, as well as a jealousy of foreign partialities, had occasionally 
interrupted the proceedings of government, and were at all events 
calculated to keep up, in the minds of the disaflected, a remembrance 
of the breach that had been made in the succession to the throne. 
Fourteen years having passed since any attempt had been made to 
restore the Stuart family, and the conditi<Mi of that liimily having' 
become such, as to render any further endeavoui-s to that etttct. ex : 
tremely improbable, nothing more seemed wanting to remove all 
remaining prejudices against the Brunswick line of princes, tiiai> 
that the sovereign should be a native of the land he ruled. 

3. In addition to this tie upon his subjects, every thing seemed to 
conspire, as lar as regarded the character, manners, and disposition 
of the young king, to secure to him the attachment of his people , 
and to give hopes of a quiet and tranquil reign. One of the very 
firet acts of which war, calculated to impress the idea of his being a 
true friend t9 the liberty of the subject, by rendering the judges 
independent of the crown. His majesty was married, soon after his 
accession, to the princess Charlotte oF Mecklenburgh Strelitz, with 



iMODERN HISTORY. 28& 

whom he was crowned at Westminster, on the 22d day of Septem- 
her, 1,7G1. 

4. liouever promi>!ing the appearances holh of external and in- 
tci'ii.il tranqiiilhly niiglit he, at the commencement of the new 
rc'ign, it was not long hcfore the nation hecame agitated hy party 
disputes and diflerences, of no small importance. In 1,762, a ques- 
ti. u arose, which tliongh it led to very distressing tumults, teiminat- 
ed in the relief of the subject from an arbitrary process, exceedingly 
rc'iiugnant to the spirit of the constitution, and the great charter of 
/Mitish liberty. General warrants, and the seizure of private papers 
wiihont suliicient necessity, the legality of which had been disputed, 
in the case of Mr. Wilkes," member I'ur Aiiesbury, during which that 
gentlemen displayed considerable ibrtitnde, though certainly with 
great f.dUire of respect towards the crown, were declared" to be 
illegal by a solemn decree of parlianient, 1,765, nor has any attempt 
hecti since made to reinvest tlie government with so dangerous and 
formidable u power. The question of general warrants, however, 
v"as not the only osie in v. hich Mr. WiHies appeared ;iS the champion 
ol' the'peopie'shberties. Being elected for Middlesex, after havii'g 
been expelled the house, lie claimed his seat, in defiance of the res- 
ohitjoiis of parliament, but was not allowed to sit. Five years after 
wi.nls, ho was permitted again to enter the house of commons ; but 
in ibis instance the parliament mahitained its power of declaring a 
Pisiicular individual disqualitied, against the decision of a majority 
of electors : a curious point as anecling the constitution, and the 
ei'xsive franchise. 

5. Though the courts of Vienna, France, and Prussia, had cause to 
be, lired oj" the wr.r. in wJiicJi they had hcvM engaged since the year 
\{ln'>. it i^ cei-Uii;) ilipt iM!:;:;ii!(l w.i- in :i s: i =• to Luniiiu;.' it, espcclal- 
i_v I'i s/a, when the treaty el' i'lu'js, tir i'otiliuiiflileai;. uas (■eiiciuded, 
ill 1,76;5. .As long ;is Mr." Put cnjiiiinird a tiK'nihor ot'adininislration, 
tiie uai- hail been carried on \ i.mu i-i!-,;, , ;;nd liad l;cc(!mc exceeding- 
ly ['('Pillar, <o thai oti the re>iy,n:iliei: '•! ;':,,i great niiirisk:r. in 1,761, 
and tlie ai^i- iiilirnMU ft' lord bnte, wiifsc distrust of his own abilities 
to ci niir.i:,' j,. di-; : - vd hini to listen to tlic; ovci'iurL-s ej' I' ranee, 
>;rcat (ii-ii,r.i;u';i.^ ;.ii ,-■. 'I'he minister was suspected of harbouring 
in his breast me mu-t despotic piinciples, and of having inculcated 
the same into the mind of his sovereign, while yet a youth. He 
was ■■supposed to possess too exclusive an inlluence in that quarter; 
and though, in private life, a most respectable nobleman, of great 
worth and probity, learning, and talents, his public measures were 
the contitii'.al ilienie of obloquy and abuse. ii;ui Mr. Pitt continued 
ni oilice. it is nioro tiian probanie tiiat the allies nugiit have gained 
giL'aier advaiitageM wu the conluient, Jiiui tlic Sr.aniard.s been more 
SViMVlv pnnislifd for tlieir ii'iri-l'r'r^ in'o : s() il.at tiie })afilic moas- 
Ui-.-s of Ibo new iTiiiii-<,er, :!;■.■,■. e, en !.''u ii-' (ii>|>leasu'-e, if not t!ie 
(onlompt, a< \^eil ef iii^ <mvii e,nii:li yme;!, a-^ d the king of rriissia 
also; who in bis wi-ili.sgs i:a> invcigiied greiUiv against the prevail- 
ing irdhjence of the noble earl at this period, in the cabinet andcoun- 
■:iis ijl Great Britain. 

6. The riots and tumults excited by t'le proceedings against Mr. 
Uiila;s, and the extro!n3 ui.i'.oiJJilid'ily ol" lord i^ute, contributed to 
■rvii-Uii the lirst years of the reign of (Jtorge HI. exceetlingly nuqui- 

■i, and to involve ids m -.jest y in many unjdeasant dillicniiies, Irorn 

flu; addresses, petitions, ami I'cmonstrances, winch iiowed in upon 

liim, often couched in such language as it was impossible not to re- 

D b 37 



290 MODERN HISTOllY, 

sent, and as often insinuating what, perhaps, was not founded on 
truth: for it Las M<-ver yet Iteen clearly ascii'liiiiud \V,;\\ the puhiic 
actually .surtl.'re(l from any improper secret iutlueuce, or ihal llie 
measures of lord Bute, with regard to the peace of Pari-, all tliiui/i? 
considered, were iinpolilic or unwise. 'J'he woist feature in liii:? 
peace, wit!) regard to t^ugland, seems to have been, ih^' I'.ulure to 
guard against tlie etfects, in future, of [\ni Jaiuily cninj act. width 
was left in lull force. Mr. I'ilt had his eye ooustanliy upon tiiis and, 
had tie continued in power, woidd, no douht, have ronlinued ibe 
war with si)jrit anfl perseverance : this great niliiisler had retiifd 
undi^grace(l: he received a pension indeed lor himself, and a )jeer- 
aj;e for his lady. His politics, to the day of his death, continued 
widely dhferent from those of lord Bute, and were constanllv more 
populir: hut the great lindt of the latter seems to have be«'n, that 
he engageil in public business, contrary to the bent of his own dispo- 
sition, and was too SiMi-^ible of his uni)opnlarity, lo unib'rlalve any 
nuva.-^nre thai required much public support. Ail he di 1, iber.'fore, 
i-ecmcd to be managed in the "way of private iniluence, cal)al, and 
inl'igtie. 

7. In addition to the addresses and remonstrances alluded to in t!ie 
foregoing section, the popular fervour and agitalion received cousid- 
p,rable encouragement from the letters of an anonymous writer, 
never yet discovered, — a writer who displayed such an extraoi\!i- 
nary knowledge of the proceedings of the court and cabinet, and 
had tiie power of expressing himself in a style so vigorous, striking, 
an 1 keenly satirical, as lo demand the attention of all paribus, ami 
confound the majority ol those whom he peisonaily attacked. Hut 
Uie extreme severity of a conceal(!d and unknown accuser, and the 
gross personalities in which he often indulged, not sparing m.ijesty 
itsdl". threw a cloiid over his writings, which can never be done 
away, lo the satisfaction of any candid or liberal nund. Though the 
moiilion of these celebrated letters is rather anticipated in this ()lace, 
as they dM not publicly appear till the year l,7i)U, yet, as they |)ar- 
ticularly relate to the foregoing tmnsaclions, and state of ali'drs in 
the early years of ihe reign of George 111., and long preceded the 
actual cotrimencement of the war with America, ihe tii'st authors of 
which he seemed disposed to screen, a better opportmuty of intrt> 
ducing the subject might scarcely be iound. The many fruitless, but 
very curious attempts that have been made, at vaiious times, to dis- 
cover the real author, have contributed, in addition to the extr.iordi- 
nary character of the work itself, and llie political questions di-cuss- 
ed in it, to prevent its ever sinking into oblivion. The letters ot 
Junitis, wnU all their blemishes, will probably nev(U' fail to find a 
pbice in the libraries of the British scholar, and British statesman. 

B. in the prosecution of this work, it should also be noticed, that a 
great constitv;*ional point came under discussion, namely, whether, 
in cases of libel, the jury were judges of the luzc, as weil as of the 
fad. In most other cases, no such dilHcnlly seemed lo occur. In 
cases ot" murder, not only the act of killing, but the murderous iti- 
teiit, was submitted to the decision of the jiiry ; and in trials lor felony 
of every description, the course was the same. Lord Manslidd. in 
this case,* insisted that the jury had only to decide on the fact of 

f)ublication, and that the court was to deterndne upon IIil- law of 
ibel. This has generally been disputed by juries; and they h.ive 
ibund ways of evading the diilicnily, by either themselves releiring 
the law to the jinlge, by a special verdict, or by pronouncing a gen- 



MODEJiN HISTORY. 291 

eral ncqnittnl. Unfnrtunntoly, lilicis are of (hat description as con 

!:t;(iilly to exrito llm^c j(>;ilousics and suspicions, tVi)m Nviiicli ovory 
com i. o|" jiisiice should he lice. '1 iiey all'ect, also, Uvo ol' (lie higli- 
r^l privih^ges dC Ln^ilishnien, — ti e riglit oi" private jiidgrnctit, and 
Ihc lilii'ity of the press. In tlie rase ot" Junius, the point in dispute 
\\as liy no means so sellled as to < h^ iatc tulure dilferences. 

9. 'Fhe year 1,76 lis memor;il ie ior the conimencernent of tlie 
dispute iset'ween Great Jhilain aid her American colonies; litil as 
ilic hi<terv ol this contest invoires many curious questions of policy; 
as 'u-< lesuils. in regard not only to England and America, but to tlie 
utnltl in general, were very impcrtant; and its terininalion led to a 
lolal separation of the colonies I'lom the motiier country, thereby 
cstahli-lung a distinct state and government of European settlers in 
the we-iern hemisphere, the details of it will be reserved for anotiier 
section. 



SECTION Vlll. 

DISPUTES BL.TWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND HER AMERICAN 
COLONIES. I,7e4— 1,783. 

1. Tmk seven years' war, terminated by the peace of Paris, or Eon- 
tainehlea.i. in 1,763, had been begun in Jlmerica^ as has been shown. 
(Sect. \'l.) Great. Biitain, at considerable expense ot' men and 
money, had resisted the encioachments of Erance on the Ihitish 

i'-jnies, and thereby aflbrded to the latter, pioteclion, perhaps be- 
y<'nd what any commercial benefits, under the colonial system, 
could be said fully to compensate. A question therefore arose. 
whether the colonies might not be called upon to contribute, by di- 
rect taxation, to the relief of the general expenses and burthensof 
the mother country. Tlie national debt, it was argued by the Erilisli 
government, was the debt of every individual in the whole empire, 
whether in Asia, America, or nearer home. 

2. The question, however, was no sooner started than decided 
liy auministraiion ; chietly through the inlhience and en the sugges- 
tion ol' Mr. George Grenville, then piime-minister, who, in the very 
year succeeding the peace of Paris, procured the stamp-act to 1 e 
passed, by which the Americans v.ere directly subjected to a tax 
impo.sed by the British parliament, without their oun consent, not 
inunediateiy applicable to their own wants or necessities, and contrary 
to every former mode of raising money for such purposes. I'his 
was certainly sutiicient to excite alarm, and lead to questions of pol- 
cy and prudence; of power and right; of legislation and represct;- 

tation ; never yet so thoroughly discussed or investigated, liitherlo, 
without questioning the power, government had forborne iicm 
taxing them as a matter of policy and i)i-opriely ; and thus, as it 
was well said at the time, those two very difticult points, su|;erioiiiy 
in the presiding state, and freedom in the subordinate, had been prac- 
lirall} reconciled. 

:>. The situation of America rendered these questions the more 
important ami alarming to the mother countiy, in case of opposition, 
,is liaviiig been originally peopled I'rom Europe, in a great measure, 
by refugees, exiles, and persons adverse to the governments, which 
they had left, both in church and state, and well inclined, probably, to 



392 MODERN iiiSTORV. 

assort a republican independence. Their legislative assemblies were 
already of the jiopnlar cast, and their iefliiii^s ;ind spirits nccon': ' ) 
It must also be admitted, (hat upon (he vei) ground ol i;(xi;i:i.;i"5 > , 
other aids, they had much to ailcj^e in rcsj eel el' their l;ti;.,(!'. i;;i 
returns to England, in taking her manui'ar.iuies, and having a.•;M^u•^! 
her in the conquest of Canada. Riost unrortunalely, the \eiy gr;.r,is 
uhich had been made by their assemblies, in aid oi" i.ngland. during 
the last war, were alleged as an argument (a nicst irrilaiing ( m-, uiT- 
doubtedly,) of their ability to pay any imposts the parliament u.ij^l.l 
choose to lay upon them. 

4. As the rainistry had decided hastily upon the general questid-, 
they set^m also to have suffiired themselves to he piecij italed inui 
some of the worst measures they could have adopted to re ncier iluir 
novel demands palatable. Their very first tax, imposed I y ti;<j 
stamp act of 1,764, though simple in its principle, was ill-suiled to 
the state of America. The mere distribution ot the stamjs, ihrtnj^h 
such a variety ofdifl'ercnt states, involved in itathousand oiliicuitic-.- ; 
and there were provisions in the act itsell, wl.ich miglit, it at ail 
abused or neglected, have suhjected the people to unheard of \ex; - 
lions and oppressions. It is scared}', therefore, to fe wondered ih;ii, 
on its first promulgation in America, the act shovdd have been re- 
ceived with the greatest indignation, and even with defiance. 

5. In the mean time, the cause oi the Ameiicans was espoused 
by a strong party at home, a party, so far liom being conteM.j>til,le, 
as to include some of the first persons of the iralion, foth in raidv ancl 
importance. The debates in both houses ^vere violent, Lut the topics 
discussed, in every point of view, interesting. The frieniis ot the 
Americans, if it may be proper now to cailthem so, libtained ;^ 
swayed, for a very short period, the helm of governnient. in June, 
1,765, the Grenville administration was dismissed, and a new one, at 
the head of which was placed the marcpiis of Rockingham, came 
into power, through the mediation of the duke of C'umhenand. 
They continued in otfice, however, for little more than one y»'ar; 
but in that short space of time, the stami>act, which had been ; o ill 
received in America, was tbrmally repealed. 

6. But the grand question relatnig to the right of taxation wa? 
by no means determined by this nieasure : a declaratory act was 
particularly passed at the same time, for maintaining the crnstiiu- 
tionai authority" of Great Britian, in "all cases \vhatsoever;''' and 
though there was certainly no design, in those who j^nnioted the 
repeal, to act upon this authority, by estahlishing any other tax of 
a similar kind, yet the colonists were prepared, as niuchase\er, 
to dispute the principle, as far as it regarded taxation ; and their 
courage and confidence at this time stood high, in consequence oi 
the importance which had been given to them in the last uar, and 
their emancipation from all dread of the French and Sj.aniards, I y 
the cession of Canada and the Floridas. In the colony ol' \ irginia 
the right of taxation was voted to jest entirely in the king, or his 
representative, and the general assembly of the colony. '1 his was, 
undoubtedly, the usual course of tilings; and in this way sul.sidie.*; to 
a considerable amount had been granted to the crown. This prece- 
dent was soon followed by others of the legislative bodies, uud 
adopted in the general congress of JSew York, 1,765. 

7. It was not pretended that the Americans paid «o taxes; but a 
distinction was now set up, which there had heen no occasion to 
iiisiBt upon before. To external taxation, through the op< vation of 



MODEUN HISTORY. -i ;.'; 

r,iw>i t.i ti:i'!e i'n(\ nnvifjalion, (Miarlod hi liie molhfr country, they 
Wcf- vviilin;^ lo vi»-l(l sulirni-i^iod ; tlioy li:i<l con-<t;iiiliy iloiu; so. nor 
■«<•(•-• iliev iiou' (ii-^posoil lo resist suck cinctnuMii.- ; Imt iili inUM'-_ 
•1 u ■i'.iiic* lor ru<in<f a rev(>niio, or sM[)|)orliiig osiitl»ii>hnu'nls, \\ci-e. 
i -i I lo bt> very (iiir.MTiitly ciivumshiiuvN!. T;ixes oT liiN nature 
■V 'V" cou-ilcu'.-ii as hoiu;^, in iho ve'ry ian:^ua'ge of parliiuiiciit il-tlil 
jj'vv, MX'] £^raiiti. iSone. thereiorp, it was urged, could give (he 
'i.),i-y ol" America Imt tiu^ people of America thcinsi'ives. ii" lliey 
(• lo-^c to make «ucii grant?, tliey mighl receive a legislative sitnction. a» 
ii iMig;.!i)d; hu! iegisliition and taxation were distinct tilings. Tax:- 
a.i'jn, ac^'.opJi'ig to the spii'il ot" the English consiilution, implving 
consent:.' direct or by repr<'senfalioii. cfnid net nfi""- ■-■ i-' ■-.■..'-.■.id 
eiilif.i" legal or jist. Local ci; -m,:. i ; u: \.i" 

Tf^nration of America, in ti'.,- llriii-Mi j.irii-i! ; 

an:! a s'i|)t)OS.Ml vii'lu'il r.^^ji^os^'nialio;! vv.is m ,, - .., ■ ^i. . .v. 
The reprr'sci.iati\-i-d of L'::!";!:'!!.!, in ta\in : ..i ;,■,-. i;; v ■,; :; :; -,^;.s 
also; btit tiiiv conld nnt !,<■ liie c;i>e in rf^:ir,l i- ;;,: ■;:. ,.ii m,;, -,-,. 

H. .Such Nveie s.nnf ol' the strongest r; ■ ; ■ > ■;! against tlie 
measure in general : !>'i!. ;.- ihe right ol !;• . ':■.• .! not been ex- 
pressly given up by u'ly I'^t ;;■, !'ngi;irul,but r:! : •; -;-!;■('. upon in the 
declar itory act, no conci'ssion short of this seeaied .ikeiy to do good, 
'i'he stamp-act hail causHJ aa irritation, which no qual'Jied n-peal 
could alia\ -. i e,;M'n 1 I xaiion was notonly resisted as an encroachment 
on e.siat)lisl. .. i.;',:.: ;ii.d usage.*, but, in resentment o!" such wrongs, 
attempts sv ;. i:. ,]■,.. hinder the further operation even of exter- 
nal layaiion. Aon-imijortalion, i\nd non-consumption agreement' 
V:->re soon entered iiito, and a.s^ociations ibrmed to methodise and 

l^so'i-l.ite the oppn-itinn to 'nnemmciit. \ resolution had been 
passed \vhien loi' 1 - lug to desist i'rom all 

tax-ation, except ;r any one ot' the 

colonial assembii; ■ . ; ; , as ;> revenue, lo be 

appropriated i)y paruaiucnt; but this ha<i no good effect. 

'J. hi so cmban'assed a state of things, it is not very surprising 
that the mini-try at home shoi;!(l have entertained wrong measures, 
and tniscaicnlaled tiie eliecls of the plans they were pursuing. 
Tii« truth of historj' tends to sIjow that, however they might be 
embariMssed by an active oppcsition in parliament, liv:!t opposition 
f\iHv iorewarned iliem of the consequences of their meditated pro- 
ceedi rr^^. 'vldc'i r:inr< to n:v-s ovartiv ;r- tli^y had be^n iorr^fclt! 

Bui ■ ■ ■.: : • : ■■ .,■;■■" . ■ • •, 

that^i ,. 

par: .•.,,, • . 

lo n-- i,i! couwui.)!;, eil.. , r ujcc 

or :■' 

e^icr- . ■ ', .1. , ■ , .. , 

ol .ii;i!-:i! aii^i li.uiJlt^. 

lur;^ o:'pi; .i.i'Mi. 

10. bi::.^ ' • ■■" .. .'>-ii-;'..;| \vli<--l !;:.;• in !;.),,;:: i.';!'' ■ >\asn0i in the 

vie\v (fi' i;i ',.•.,; :i; ; -;,;,, i' the question, 

or even p ■ - :M ,!- ;., ,, ;■:■ r.,.-. i., y would have 

tieen more : ; i^iresses to ilie king and piirliariient, on 

Viirious oc'- .'inmencement of the dispute, must have 

been I'ailac; -, pitch of dissimulation, if they ha-d do- 

termined ;i;;,ii;.-t ail i. (wnprofuise I'roni the very beginning; but, in- 
deed, the remonstrances and complaints of General Washington, on 
tlie ill state of his army, and total want of many essential i^equisites, 



;;f coercion was r. - 


. illegal 


:.i ilorv proposiljnn r,., . . 


a prool 


il us a pledge of victory ai 


ul success to ill- 



294 MODERN HISTORY. 

on first taking the cnmman(!, seom clearly to prove thnt they were 
driven to assoj't their indejienilence by the conrse oftnings; a larg« 
portion of their feliow-sii'iitcts and countrymen on both sides oi* the 
Atlaniif, jndjjcd them to be oppressed, and thus gave a character to 
liicir opposition u hich could not very creditably be tbrreited. Upon 
tiie whole it may be considered probable that some of the most 
prominent and active leados of the revolution had very early con- 
reived tb.e design of establishing the independence of their country ; 
but that the mass of tlie people in the colonies, h-ad no such inten- 
tion until alter their lirst successes. 

11. I iosiililies did not actually commence till the year 1,775, ten 
years tivnn the lirst passing of the stamp-act. In a short time alter 
ihe pa>sing of that act, it was repealed, as has been stated ; but in 
1.7tJ7 the prt'JM't of taxing America was revived by Mr. Charles 
rownshetid, and from that period to the commencement of the wi.r, 
l)olh countries were in a state of the greatest agitation. Debates 
ran high at liome. and in America their gravest proceedings were ac- 
companied with such threats oi" detiance, and sucli indignant lesert- 
mentofall innovations, as almost necessarily to bring them under the 
strong hand of power. Ihit government underrated their means of 
resistance; when brought into a state of union, by the congres.s, 
their I'orce was no longer to be despised ; all leini ori/.ing expedients 
were at an end, a circumstance ill understood by the ministry at 
iiome, who lost much time in endeavouring to retrieve matters, by 
fruilb^ss attenn)ts, sometimes in the way of conciliation, aiul at 
others ef i.ieliicient resistance. Thus, when in 1,77U many cem- 
merciai duties were taken off, which the mother country Had an un- 
doubted right -to impose, the concession was ill received, in co»- 
quence of the single exception of lea., which was continued in order- 
to assert the rights and sujircmacy of Great Britain; but this was 
done in a manner too imperious, and without sufficient force to subdue . 

.the resentment it was calcidated to excite, at such a moment. At 
the very lireaking out of the war, ministers appear to have been by 
far too confident of speedily suppressing so formidable an insurrec- 
tion ; an insurrection ^vllich bad had Time allowctl_ i* to organi/e 
itself, and which liad drawn upon it the attention of the whole civ- 
i.i/,c<i uorld. 

12. I'he \\:\x may be said 'o have acitially commenced cnly on 
the Hill of Ai)ril, i.775, though some English regiments had been 
*ent to Boston so early as the year 1,768. In an alfair at Lexn-gton, 
rtmounling to no more than a skirniisli, the English were completely 
worsted, a circumstance calcuiate-.l to give s] irits to the Americans, 
at a most awl'ul and momentous period. General Washington, who 
had distinguished himself in the war against the French, and bore a 
most irreproachable character, was appointed to take the cenmiand 
ol" the American army; a post of the utmost responsibiiily, and re 
(juiring talents, temper, and iliscretion, ri' no common descri[)tion. 

l.M. The sword being draun, and no hojies remaining of an :,ir;ica- 
ble adjustment of ditleronces between the crown and its transatlantic 
sul Jv'cts, now in a state of open revolt ; and the success of the first 
hosiiiilies having animated the military ardour of the Americans, 
they proceeded, by a solemn di'claraiion of the general c<!ngress at 
I'lii'lailelpb.i.!, .)nlv"4, 1,770, to declare the thirteen provinces inde- 
pendent; by which act America may be said to have been divided 
from the mother country, 294 years aVter the discovery of that coun- 
try by Columbus; 166 from the first settlement of Virginia; and 15€ 



MODERN HISTORY. 285 

from the settlement of Plymouth in Massachusetts Bay. The Aniei- 
icfiw (v.Higress evorcised iis important functions with great energv 
uiiJ iHgiiity, an.l the camiiaign oi" 1.7713 turned out liitonrably lor tii'e 
Aiujric.in?, ami liiglily to tlie credit of their very able and brave 
com nander. 

I 1. \VlK>ther it were owing to the low opinion entertained by the 
government at home, ol' the resistance likely to be offered by the 
.\ in.; lie- in.-, or to a disiikt- of the cause in which they were engaged 
o;i tli3 part of the Briti-li commanders, it is exceedingly certain, that 
the biii^ifs.i army (Ud not obtain the advantages it was supposed it 
mi;^'it hi.iv'C done, or jjroceed as if it were able speedily to cnisii the 
rj!>^llJoii th it had been raised. The American troops were every 
d.iy improving, and every day deriving encouragement, eilher from 
u.i.ixpected successes, or the inactivity of the armies opposed to 
l!ijm. On the other hand, the English were either indulging in 
pleasure, whan they should have been in action, or disheartened by 
su ivien .surpi-ises or repulses, whlcli redounded greatly to the credit 
of their less disciplined, and less organized opponents. In a short 
ti ne, however, the war became more complicated, and opened a 
scMie, wiiich not only involved the continent of Europe in the con- 
llict of the day, but probably led to changes and convulsions, as ex- 
traordinary and as extensive as ever the world experienced. 

K'). In the month of November, l,77G, the celebrated Dr. Franklin 
and Sii.is Deane had been despatched by congres.s, to solicit, at the 
court of Vers lilies, the aid and assistance of Hench troops. Accoivl- 
i 1^ to (he former course of things, nothing could be more .strange 
til Ml «i!ch an application, at such a court ; an application from rebel- 
lious subjf^ct.-;, t'lom the assertors of republican independence, to a 
co.irt celebrated tor the most retined despotism, and ruling a people, 
heretoibre the grossest admirers and llatterers of regal power, an 
:.((),). ication from persons of the simplest habits; frugal, terii})eiate, 
in liistrious, and little advanced in civilization, to a court immersed m 
pleasure, gay, aii.l dissipated, protligale and corrupt, civilized to the 
bi^he't pitch of courtly retinemerit, of polishecf manners, and of 
spl.Mi.lid luxury: lastly, an application from a people who had car 
ri»;d their dissent from the church of Rome farther than any protes- 
ti'uts iii Europe, to a court still subject to the papal see, a cherished 
br.mcii ol" tlie catholic church. 

l.j. Extraordinary, however, in all respects, as this American mis- 
sion ssems to have been, it met with a cordial and favourable recep- 
tion. Even the queen of France was iound to espouse the cause of 
the revolted sul.^iects of Great Britain, little foreseeing the handle 
she WIS giving to many keen observers of her own courtly cxtrava- 
g nice and thoughtless dissipation. Tlie die was soon cast'; a lijrnial 
treaty was entered into, acknowledging the independency of Amer- 
ic l; succour and support to a large extent promised, and oliicers :«p- 
pointeil to contluct the French forces, likely, it would seem, above 
ail others, to imbibe the spirit of freedom, which animated llie 
Americans, and to espouse their cause upon princij)!e. They \vere 
ail noi)!e, indeed ; but in America they were sure to be taught how 
vain were such di<tiiicti()ns, if not supported iiv public opinion. 

17. The i'^nglis'i government was not formerly apprised of tliis 
unexpected ailiance, lill the year !,778, when it received a very 
curious ana iusuiiing notilication of it from tlie French amba.ssador. 
It does not appear that the aid thus obtained by the American mis- 
sion, was altogether grateful to the Americans themselves, though U 



290 MODERN Hi STORY. 

Ii;h! the ful! clYecA of raising ti|) new and powerful onemies agaiiist 

iiio i!i il!i<M roimiry, and involving Ei.rope in their canse ; for, 
liiroii^a liir Kicncii iniiueru^e, in 'he year li'^''9, .Spain joined the 
conleilerac} aj;ainst EoKiland, and, in 1,78U, irloiiand. hi the moan 
x\ iiiio cosn iiissioncrs liad heen set.; from England to America, to 
treat for peace, J)ut the Americans, insisting on the previous ac- 
iinowltdgnienl of their independency, rendered their attempts fruit- 

il'>-S. 

lu Whatever loss of fame, reputation, and territory Great Britain 
iiicurrod in America, her arms never shone with greater histre tiian 
■!i soiue occasions in which she was engaged during this \v\ v. wi.h 
iih^ coiile'der.ite powers of Europe ; in Asia particularly, ne wai 
iiqui.iiig an empii'e ten times greater in wealth and populatr n, lh;ai 
ill she had to lose in the west: hut of all her achievements at this 
period, none, perhaps, was so conspicuous, none so glorious, as liio 
iefence of Gibraltar under General Eiliot, afterwards lord llealii- 
field, against the .'.omhined i()rces of vSpain and France. The prepa 
i.ilioiis made to recover that important lortress for Spain, exceeded 
I'very thing before known. The ultimate success of the attempt 
n':!s calculated upon as so certain, that some of the French | rinces 
ot tiie blood, repaired to the Spanish, camp merely to witness its sur 
reiK.'jr. But the heroism of the troops in garrison hafiied all their 
dt'sigi.s, and the timely arrival of the British fleet completed the 
Iri iinpii, in October, 1,782. The siege (^ begun in 1,779) was entire- 
ly aLandoned, with the loss of all the Spani^i* lloating batteries, and 
the defeat oj'the combined fleets ofl'rar.ce and Spain^, by lord i iinve. 
This action took place on the 20th of October; in the t()llovvhig 
niouih provisional articles of peace were signed at Faris, by Jiriiish 
ind Amei-ican commissioners, and early in the ensuing year a treaty 
conciudod at V^ersaiiles, l>etwGen Great Britain, France, and Spain, 
(o which, in February,' Holland also acceded. 

19. Towards the close of the war, many important discussions in 
p;iriiam"nt took place on the American afiairs, in which it was 
ibnnd, that those who had most espoused her canse, on tlie tniestiou 
of inteinal taxation, and most oh\iocted tc tiie measures of adminislra- 
lion in the conduct of the war, diiiered, at the last, irom each other, 
on llie question of American independence; a difference renden-d 
]KCuiiariy memorable, as being tu«! subject of tiie last speech aiul 
anpear^uice in pariiimient ol" lliat illustrious statesman, the e;iil i 1^ 
CViatiiain. On Ap"il 7, 1,773, though labouring jinder a sever*; tii of 
iiine.ss, he appeared in his place, in the tiouse of lords, and de.i\cr,(i 
a mo-t animated and energelic speech, in which he sironi'ly proli-*- 
cd against the surrendei' of tiie sovereignly of Great laii;;in <.\er 
h.'r cuionies; soon alter, rising to reply to t!ie Duke of l-'iciiiuond, 
iK! iiill i)ack on the seat in a fainting til, and in a tew davs exj^ired, 
.il i-is seat in Kent, hi four years froni liiit- event. Great Briiaiji was 
I'oniijeiied. to yield upon this great [wint, and, by the peace ol Vt'r- 
-lilies, raiiVi<'d'and concluded Se})tember .j."l,7no, the ihiriccit Vmirjl 
Ciiloaus ;jf Atneiicct zz'sre mi-iilttd to be '•' F'xc. .SV-rp/vji^-.i, an:l iwUjiOi- 
km Slitie.*."" 



MODKRxN HlSTOi-iy. sJCT 



SIX nON IX. 
rp.oM TiJi-: rr.ACE of taris, 1,703, to tiik 

,G OF Tin; ASSF.MBLY OF THE STATES GENEKAE, 



1. l'ii!i (lie jifTairs of Franco, from tlie death of Lcwi^ XIV'.. lo 
tie pjici^ of \ i.Miiia, 1,7.18, (sae Sccl. I.) In tlie y ear of 1,710, 
t) \i 1^ to l!ie death of Uie eriiperor, Charles V'l., Eiiro(ie was a^ain 
aj,i;;il>'.!, an I Krr.p.C"-, in csjXHising the cau-^e ol the elocloi- of Hava- 
rfi. a ' linsl liie liou-i of Aiisuia, liccanrj iavolved in '.!ie war, wliich 
wi.- UMMiiaaled hy iho poaon of Aix-la-Chapoho, 1,7 U!, (see Sect. 
I!!.) From tiiL' coaclu'ion of the above treaty, to tiie eonirnence- 
iii i.at oflhe seven waivs" war. she enjoyed a slate of external peace 
an i iiMnc^iiiiliiy. Jint Ihough thi< shorliuterval of repose from war, 
i\ai apji.ieJ to die iinproveinenl of the khigdoiri, in no common do- 
gi'ee, l)i)t;i in the ea| ilal and provinces, by the establishment ot 
se.ioois ail 1 liospuaU, tlie eicclion of ptibiic edifices, tlie laiilding bt 
b/id^e-, dii^i I:; cnia.s. an I repairing roads; in the ciiitivaliun and 
iai/i'ov 'm ■ il (<i' m mv aiN, t'lc eytensirn o)' commerce, ami encour- 
ii>.!me it of m innficunes; otsilk.of porcelain, and tapestry, iri par- 
lie liifi-; V t aaiidsl. all tiie^e improvements she eiijoyei; little of inter- 
nal iranq.iiiiiiy. ilcli^iou-^ di-petes gre;itly occiin'ie<i tlie alleniion 
of all !-iiik< of pei'sons, and involved the clergy, the court, the par- 
ii I mem-, aa 1 die people, in incessant contests, exceedingly ('isgrace- 
(ul, an i coii i JL'i-ing the temper of the times, the .cdxancement of 
Iriari 1 knotvie Ige, and the progress of ideas, extremely iajuditious. 

'i. Daiirig the r. ign of Lewis XIV'., a tierce contention bad arisen 
Ijcuveeii the .iesuits and J.insenisls, on certain oliscure points in 
theology, which, after much fruitless argument, inncb I'aiiiery and 
abuse on botli sides, through the influence of the Jesuits witii the 
king, were ref?rred to the decision of the Roman pontiff! One iiuu- 
(lr.'d ;jid om propo-idons, out of one hundred and three, which were 
sai I to fivour the Jaiisenists, in a book written by the Fere Quesnel, 
were, in the year 1,7 !o, declared by the iioly oftice to be heretical, 
and co.isoyuently coiideiiined in fonn.* The interposition of his lio- 
lliess ha.j little elVjct, in regard to the restoration ol' peace and tran- 
ce lidity. The puliiic instrument, by whicli the sentence was passed 
on the Jansenist party, (in the language of Rome commonly called 
the b!ill '' Unigciui.is^'' li'om the first word with which it begin-,) 
became Hie signal for fresh animosities, murmurs, and complaints. 
The people, the pardament, mar.y prelates, ami others of the clergy, 
violently exr.laiaied agaiasl it, as an infringement of tlie rights of tfie 
Ciainc in church, contrary to (he laws, and a violation of tlie iVei'dom 
of opinion in in itlers of religion. But the king, iu.ting under the 
siiaie ialhience as had indiicetl him to I'orward the appeal, ordered it 
to be received, and i;i a shoittime afterwards die<l. The regent 
(tiJke of Oi-.eans tbund means to keep things tolerably quiet duiiii;^ 

J ;* The king's confessor, the P. le Tellicr. happened to have told llu 
kiif|;,tha!. this liiooU coutiiiiied laort ihan a liandnd ctnsarabh projioxilions 
To save till cr.-ilii o' .ue cout'tssor, the pope tondemuMl a hundred anil 
a^iic. and stated the above reason for what he had done, in express terms, 
io the French aiubcissadoi' at Itome. 



898 MODERN HlbTOKY. 

his administration of affairs, ncr did the flame burst out again till the 
year l,7oU, wlien, througli Ihe bigotry of the then an^iiblshnp of 
Paris, the clergy were encouraged to rcluse extrenio uiiriion lo ;ii| 
who should not produce coidesj-ional notes, si_;i)ed by pers'ous who 
adhered to the bull. 

3. It is easy to guess the confusion and deep di-;tre?s, indeed, 
which so singular and intolerant a measure was likely to jiroducc 
The ca"ise of the recusants and people in general, was, ujion tiiir- 
occasion, strongly supported by the parliament of i'aris, and ollu-r 
parliaments; and as in the preceding struggles the Janseni?ls had 
been thrown into prison, in this the magistrates made no scruple -d' 
committing all who refused to administer the sacraujput to persons in 
their last moments. I'he Jesuits had again recourse to the king. 

4. The common course of proceeding, in all disputes and con- 
tentions between the king and his parliaments, had iiitherto borne 
the stamp of the most perfect despotism. However bold, or how- 
ever respectful the remonstrances might be on the pari of tiie lat- 
ter, they were not allowed to have the least effect against the de- 
termination of the court. If these judicial bodies became too re- 
fractory, banishment ensued of course, and not tiie slightest regard 
was paid to any argunrents they might allege, nor any resistance 
they might otTer, in support of the liberties of their fellow subjects. 

5. Things came to the usual crisis on the present occasion. All 
the chambers of parliament refused to register the letters patent bj 
which they were commanded to suspend the prosecutions relative 
to the refusal of the sacraments. In the year 1,75J, they were 
oanished, and much inconvenience arose from the interruption of 
business, and suspension of justice ; while the clergy, attached to 
the bull, made great boast of the victory they had obtained, and 
endeavoured continually to strengthen themselves more and more 
against their adversaries. The king often wavered, but was as 
often brought back by the interposition of the pope and obstinate 
perseverance of the Jesuits; in 1,754, however, seizing the opportu- 
nity of the birth of a second son to the dauphin, (the duke of iier- 
ry, afterwards Lewis XVI.,) he recalled the parliament, but with- 
out effecting jieace. The members had been received at Paris 
with loud acclamations, and every demonstration of joy ; their 
conduct had rendered them popular to an extraordinary degree, so 
that when commanded afiesh to register the king's edicts, they 
again refused. Tlus bold act of disobedience subjected them to 
the last extremity of kingly authority. The sovereign repaired 
himself to the hall of parliament, November, 1,75G, and in a bed of 
justice (the term by which such assemblies were peculiarly desig- 
nated,) linally ordered them to register the edicts in his name, which 
they could no longer, as the constitution then stood, refuse. Many, 
however, resigned their appointments, and much discontent prevailed 
amongst the people. It should be observed, that by this tin)e the 
depositaries of the laws and advocates had begun to <lepart liom 
their usual routine cf technical formalities, and, animated by the ex- 
amples set them, to enter largely into the geneial questions of law 
and liberty, rights and obligations, duty and privilege ; they began, 
in short, systematically to take the part of the oppressed ; lliey vveie 
prepared, not only to remonstrate, but to argue, debate, and openly 
to protest against the violation of the rights of the people. 

6. The hand of a fanatic, in the year 1,757, appeared to have 
the effect of altering the king's mind once more. As hi' majesty 



IVlODERiN HiSTOKY. 299 

was stepping into his carriage, he was stabbed by an assassin of 
the name ot' Dainiens^ his object being, according to his own contes- 
sioii, not to kiil, but to alarm ids majesty, with a view of producing 
tome change in the king's sentiments, that might dispose him to en 
join ttic administration of the sacraments to (iying persons, without 
the confessional note-i insisted upon ; but little reliance is to be placed 
on any declarations of this nature. In this instance they seemed 
not to agree uitii the conduct of the assassin. That Lewis acted as 
he di;i soon afterwards, with regard to the points in dispute, in conse- 
quence of this attempt on his lite, is by no means certain ; but in u 
short time rndters were accommodated with the parliament, and the 
archbishop of t-'aris, the chief fo!n:!nter of the disturbances on the 
part of the clergy, banished. 

7. It may not be unreasonable, perhaps, to date the commence- 
ment of the revolution tiiat broke out nearly thirty years after- 
wards, from this period. .Scarcely any tiling could have contributed 
more to encourage the revolutionary [irinciples already at work, 
than disputes which indicated sucii inveterate superstition and big- 
otry ; such determined opposition to all freedom of thought; such 
sophistry and intrigue; such submission to the court of Rome; such 
contempt of the puldic opinion, as expressed, for want of any better 
constituted organ, in the rpmonstranoes of the P'rench parliament; 
such a disposition on the part of the court and clergy to uphold the 
arbitrary powers of the sovereign, and this at a moment when the 
private life of the uionarch himself was in the highest degree profli- 
gate and aliandoiied, and t!ie whole system of government a system 
of veii;ility, t!iv()uritism, and puldic plunder. These imprudent and 
unwise, prueeedie.gs, atsuch a time, gave a handle to the philosophers, 
(I lueruli, of liie day, to take the reform of matters into their own 
hands, and by supplying them with such ample materials tor the 
exercise of liieir wits, as well as their courage, laid the tbundation 
for a revolution which (so extensive were the abuses of government) 
almost necessarily threw every thing into confusion, and in the end 
far outstepped the bounds of all sober and discreet retbrm. Bred up 
l)y the Jesuits theniselvo-. and .instructed in all the branches of 
worldly and polite knowledge, they were amply prepared to expose 
the weakness or wickedaess of their masters, when ->nce the veil 
that shrouded their deceptions was by any accident I'emoved. They 
slofxl ready to avail taeniselves of any circumstances that might 
tend to render manifest the pride and obstinacy, hypocrisy and 
deceit, of an overbearing sect, who by tiieir inlluence with the king, 
might^at any time tnimijie upon the libei-lies of the people. 

!j. These philosopbeis, (for so they have been with too little dis- 
criiuiiialion called,) thus raised in the estimation of an oppressed 
p nple into the rank of champions of public freedom, ^vere unfortu- 
II ,!.• y, InU pi'(.)h;iliiy through the artful designs of their instructers, 
\[[{:r aeqiiaiuied \viih the true principles of religion, however fa- 
inii II- liiey might be with its abuses. In directing their attacks, 
therefore, aga.inst the Jesuits, they were rather anxious that theii 
shatis shoukl reach all the regular clergy, or monastic orders in 
general; nor were they at all careful how much religion itself 
might sulier in the overttirow of its ministers. The enemies of the 
.iesuits in China, Portugal, Spain, and America, had been the 
• Dominicans and Cordeliers. It was the aim of the philosophers, in 
crusiiing the Jesuits, to crush their rivals also; they were there- 
iore as severe against the Dominicans as against the Jesuits: the 



SCO MODERN HISTORY. 

•larlinmont only attacked the latter. Hovvevcn- atji'.chod Lewis XV. 
inii^l'.t be to flie Jes^iiit?, as the detcndets ot" the call.dlii: l^'ii^i(^ll. 
■liid Iviiij^ly aiitluirily, lie appears to liave enterli.ined a j. ai^.l,^y 
1)1' them, as ceiisor.s ol i'is iiiiniorai coiiv^o ol' iiil'. ami as ii.( n- ul 
tai:hcd to his son the (lan|ihiM tiiaii lo hiiii^ell". lie liieri'li'Sf i.i'- 
ranip. iiKhlTereiit to ihc attacks making upc-n thorn; \vt;i,e I. is mi?- 
ti'css, the Kiarchiouoss ol" Puinpaihuir, and hi- niiiiislcr. ihe di.lvc (!i' 
C"lioi-;;'ui, in order to keep the king wholly in thtdi-uvvn i.t)v>ei, \'. * r*; 
ri;ady to lake [tart against tlie danphin, the qneen. the ro\ai iami.y, 
and tlie Jesuits Iheinselvts, of whom they were, tor the reasm^s 
aliove stated, jnstly suspicions. The duke de Choiseid himstii. in- 
deed, is said to iiave given the I'ollo'.ving account of Ids eiaiuly to u.c 
ordei'; that heing on an endiassy at Home, the general ol ti.e (,rder 
tVankly told him, that he knew, heibre he came, every thing that 
he had said about t!ie society at Paris, and so convinced him that 
what he said was true, that he could not iloidjt but that, tiucujili 
some means or other, they were able to learn all that pa.-sed, not 
only in tlie cabinets oi" pi'inces, but the interior ot' j;rivate liuuscs, 
an.: ili;it so dangerous a society ought not to subsist. It is projicr to 
slate this, in order to exonerate the dvdce from any suspicion vi' 
having sa.critied them to the philosophers, whose irrdigiuus princi- 
ples he is known latterly not to have approvetl. 

i). In tlia year 1,76;) the Jesuits had t»et.. expelled from Porlngai, 
on a charge'of oountena.ncing an attack on tlie king's iile. Lmier 
thesu circumstances, it is not surprising thai the eiiemiesof tlie order 
at Paris sliould attejnpt to tix on them the charge of the late attack 
on L'.iwis XV., and to attribute to them regicide princip'cs. Diiunais. 
biinseil' seemed to have taken pains to leave the mailer in exlrcine 
(hubi. They already were sutliciently branded in the eyes ol' ibc 
pu!)iic, as the friends and assertors of arbitrary power, and (Mien:iv.s 
to liberty. 'J'o relieve the sovereigns of Europe from the ibi'.odi ii> 
of a sect so };owerful, so artful and dangerous, became a principle id 
action, ^vhichthe public \vere well enough disposed to countenance, 
and an opportunity only was wanting to accomplish their ml:!. 

U). This opportunity the Jesuits themsedves provided ior their 
cnciidcs. Having endeavoured to escape from a demand made on 
th-m in consequence of some mercantile proceedings, in wjiicdi one 
of their society vvas deeply involved, the trii'iinais to which the 
case was referred, having a handle given them by ttie pleading;? 
of the Jesuits, very properly required to see tlie ai'dcles oi their 
iu?l!l,i.;lioH, hitherto, that is, for more than tvvo c«'iUiiiies, kcj 1 .-.■::- 
cret iVoni ail the world. The tim;'S were well Iduvl lur si.cli ;» 
di>cov<M-y. All men of wit and undei-standing, hv^wever uii])ri!:;i- 
pled liicmselves, were well prepared to detect and expose ihe \u\- 
nerahie parts of their great charter or iKsinuTK., (lijr so il w;;-,s 
called) and to lay open to the world at large the peculiar arts a: d 
coi!iii»ances, by which they were systematically insii^icted to ; c- 
quire an absolute dominiyii over the minds and coii.-cier.ces of ni' ii. 
'I'ht .nysterious volume was i'ound to contain sullicicnt to convii.t 
them of such !.iad principles, with regard hotli to ciyii goverinnent 
and morality, that, though the king hesi;ate<l at first to pass sc-i- 
tence on liiem, being almost as much afraid of their rivals a'iil op- 
ponents, the Jansenisls, the pardameid, iaid l!ie pldJosoj. h^'is. as ( i' 
iheniseives; yet, at length, August (5, l.Tosf, lie was prcvaiie<! i.p<'i. 
to issue a decree, by vyldch they were seculinized, and their posscs- 
siuas ordered to be sold, which was speedily, and with very lew 



MODERN HISTORY. 301 

exceptions, carried into execution in all parts of tiie kingdom. 
Efforts indeed were made to save tliem, as being essentially necessa- 
ry to combat the attacks oi the new philosophy, and to check the 
progress -of deism and atheism ; as heretofore they had interposed to 
confound schismatics and heretics ; both the altar and the throne, it 
was alleged, needed their services now more than ever; but all 
these movements in their favour were in vain. The duke de 
Choiseul and the marchioness of Pompadour had the influence to 
procure an edict from the king for the actual abolition of the order 
n\ France, which was issued in November, 1,7G4, and other courts 
^i Europe judged it wise to take the same steps. Spain and Portu- 
gal having at this time ministers, whose principles and politics much 
resembled those of the duke de Choiseul; the count d'Aranda, and 
the marquis de Pombal ; the Jesuits were expelled from Spain, 
Naples, and Sicily, from Mexico, Peru, and Paraguay, in the course 
of one and the same year, 1,767. 

11. The fate of the Jesuits was no sooner decided, than the par- 
liaments, elated by the downfal of their great opponents, began to at- 
tack the arbitrary power of the king. The prot]igate life of the 
latter had withdrawn him too much from the cares of government, 
and opened the door to abuses in almost every department of admin- 
istration ; but while the parliaments were thus engaged, some very 
extraordinary processes at law, particularly the case of the Calas 
family at Thoulouse, of Labarre at Abbeville, and of the celebrated 
Lally^ commander in India, in which shocking instances of fanaticism 
and oppression occurred, turned the eyes of the philosophers, with 
fohaire at their head, to tiffe defects of the Fvench jurisprudence, and 
excited a stroag feeling against both the lazos of France, and the 
administrators of them. 

12. The nation had sustained a considerable loss in the death of 
the dauphin, who, though a favourer of the Jesuits to a certain ex- 
tent, exhibited a character so different from that of his father in 
many most essential points, as to render him very justly popular: his 
highness died at the age of 36, in the year 1,765 ; his wite, a prin- 
cess of the house of Saxony, surviving him only fifteen months. In 
1,770, through the agency of the duke de Choiseul, a new'connex- 
ion took place between the courts of V^ienna and Versailles, by the 
oiarriage of the young dauphin, afterwards Lewis XVI., wit!) the 
daughter of the empress dowager, the archduchess Marie Antoi 
sette ; an union attended with such costly and splendid festivities at 
-rhe time, as must excite, in every sensible mind, the most awful re- 
declions on the dismal events which are now known to have clouded 
"ts latter days. 

13. The marriage of the dauphin took place at a time when the 
iifferences between the king and his parliament had arisen to the 
greatest height. In the course of the years 1,770 and 1,771, the 
king held several beds of justice, but witliout at all subduing the 
spirit which had been raised against his edicts, and which the minis- 
ter, in opposition to the chancellor, is supposed to have encouraged ; 
a new parliament, and six councils, on the suggestion of the lattei^, 
were proposed to be constituted, to supply the place of tfie refracto- 
ry members, who were banished ; but this measure was oppo.sed, 
not only by the regular parliaments, but by the princes of the blood, 
and several even ol" the very persons nominated to foi'm and preside 
in the new assemblies. Several provincial parliaments, as well as 



302 MODERN HISTORY. 

Ihat of Paris, were suppressed, and as many as seven hundred magUi* 
trates exiled or confined. ' 

14. The year 1,774 terminated the hte and reign of Lewis XV, j 
he died in the 65th year of his age, having reigned 58, The lailer 
part of his hfe was highly disgraceful in a private point of view, arid 
utterly feeble in a public one ; nor was his death at all regretted. 
He was succeeded by his grandson Lewis XV]., who had lost an 
elder brother in the year 1,761, his father in 1,765, and his mother 
in 1,767; strange mortality in one family, and too much resembling 
the losses in that of Lewis XIV., (see Sect. I.,) then imputed to 
poison ; a charge revived upon this occasion, but probably entirely 
without foundation. 

1 5. At the very commencement of his reign, but not without some 
sacrifice of his private feelings and opinions, Lewis XVI. complied 
with the genera! wish of having the old parliaments restored, and 
tbe new councils formed by the chancellor Maupeou, dissolved ; a 
measure which seemed to difi'use an almost universal joy throughout 
the capital and provinces. The king had taken into his service two 
ministers of a disposition iavourable to the wishes of the i^eople ; 
•he renerable count de Maurepas, and M. Turgot. In conjunction 
with these ministers, Lewis was undoubtedly disposed to reibrm 
abuses, and promote the happhiess of his people-; but unfortunately 
the state of France, if not of the world in general, pi"ecluded all 
hope of any gradual and temperate change. 

16. The American contest had commenced; a declaration of rights 
had appeared there, exceedingly well ctiiculated to open the eyes 
of those who had not yet seen, and to encourage the revolutionary 
movements of those who had been able to delect, and were prepared 
to expose, the great abuses subsisting in the French government; al- 
ready had the philosophers successfully attacked the Jesuits; aimed 
&ome severe blows at the monastic orders in general, as well as at the 
court of Rome, which had supported and abetted them in every at- 
tempt to uphold the papal and royal authority, and to stifle the com- 
plaints of the people. The tyranny thus inveighed against and at- 
tacked, had incited an opposition, much more likely to promote 
licentiousness than assist the caus.e of real and genuine liberty. The 
errors of Catholicism, upheld by a bigoted and infatuated clergy, at 
variance with the only assemblies in the nation capable of any con- 
stitutional remonstrance, however inelfectual, naturaUy hurried the 
wits and frcclhinkers of that lively nation into extremes which every 
.sober minded man could not fail to lament; in a very short course of 
time, from railing at the regular clergy, they proceeded to rail at 
religion, and even atheism was propagated in a way that bespoke a 
dreadful disregard of all principles of religion, common honesty, and 
iionour; in works purporting to have been written by very respect- 
able persons, deceased, who had holden, when alive, opinions diamet- 
rically opposite to those that were thus stamped with their names. 
These were among some of the most dreadful forerunners of a rev 
olution, which, had it been properly managed, had it fallen into the 
hands of persons better prepared to act upon the true principles of 
religion and ordeily government, considering the progress of knowl 
edge and the powerful impulse which the human mind had received, 
was not unseasonable in point of" time and circumstances. 

17. It would be absurd, however, to deny the abilities of many of 
the persons who now stood forward to stem the torrent of abuses^ 
and vindicate the rights of the people; several of them had vvfit. 



MODERN HISTORY. 303 

and learning, and science, at command, to the liighest degree ;* some 
of theni had a lively sense of liberty, bnt they had been iil-taught 
on the subjects of religion and morality ; they had read Locke, witli- 
oiit imbibing Locke's best principles ; they had confounderl the 
abuses of Christianity with Christianity itself; they were witty and 
ingenious, but not comparable in wisdom and conduct with their con- 
temporaries in Scotland, or in England; the latter were the truest 
friends to liberty, the best philosophers, and the best politicians, as 
their writings show. The celebrated Encyclopsedia, which tirst ap- 
peared in 1,751, had supplied an opportunity for all the literati of 
France to express their most private sentiments on government, 
political economy, and the management of the tinances. Amongst 
these the economists bore a conspicuous part; their whole system, 
when rightly understood, being one of liberty, whether it regarded 
personal rights, the free application of industry, or the exportation 
of corn. The author to the Introduction to the Encyclopa3dia, M. 
d'Alembert, was a man of considerable talents, but a deist in principle ; 
his coadjutor, Diderot, an atheist. 

18. The ministry of Turgot, while it lasted, was rather calculated 
to give encouragement to the French reformers ; his own views 
were undoubtedly liberal and patriotic, and he had a master sincere- 
ly disposed, in all likelihood, to further any practicable plan of 
reform, but the course of the minister was too precipitate ; his views 
extended to too many objects, and were such as admitted not of any 
speedy accomplishment ; they were too mighty for the grasp of any 
one man ; they only excited the animosity of the privileged orders, 
and drove them into measures of defence, more calculated to wurii 
their own overthrow than conciliate their enemies. The advocates 
of ancient abuses and unreasonable customs, they treated their op- 
ponents with an ill-judged contempt, and by resisting all amelioration 
of the present order of things, laid the foundation for a thousand 
impracticable systems and extravagant theories, new constitutions 
and schemes of government, which being severally proposed, tried, 
and rejected, in rapid succession, at last involved every thing in con- 
fusion, anarchy, and ruin. 

19. While the seeds of revolution, if not of republicanism, plen- 
tifully sown, were beginning to germinate in France, in America the 
people were already acting upon the very principle of resistance to 
an alleged tyranny. It required only to bring the two countries, by 
some moans or other, into contact, to spread the contagion, and 
revolutionize both nations as the different circumstances and charac- 
ters of the people should severally determine. At the beginning of 
the year 1,778, a formal alliance was negotiated betv\feen the court 
of Versailles and the revolutionary government of America; but 
long before that, in the year 1,774, the American declaration of 
rights, on which their opposition to the English government rested, 
was received in France, as a kind of practical application of the 
theoretical schemes of the French philosophers, and might reasona- 
bly have alarmed all the courts of Europe ; though the contrary 
was the fact. France and Spain sent help, and Prussia approved the 
American proceedings, not so much out of friendship towards the 
Americans, as of blind hostility to Great Britain. The king of France 
is said to have foreseen the ill consequences of such a war, but to 
have weakly given way to contrary advice. 

20. The sjjeeches of opposition, in the mean time, in the two Eng- 
lish houses of parliament, greatly interested the people on the conti- 



304 MODERN HISTORY. 

nent; the crowned heads, indeed, took little notice of the warning, 
whilst the subjects were listening attentively to the lessons ofiibenj 
promulgated by Chatham, Fox, and Burke. Unibrtunately, the court 
of Versailles, at this very time, with the exception of the king, who 
was inclined to economy, fell into the utmost extravagancies of 
luxury, gayety, and dissipation ; drew largely, and without any con- 
sideration, on the public treasury, though the finances were in a 
most depressed state; invented all kinds of novelties, and seemec' 
bent upon exchanging the forms and etiquette of a court for trilling 
though expensive amusements, not omitting such as promoted and 
encouraged the spirit of gambling. 

21. While these things were going on at court, and too much 
countenanced, it is to be feared, by the queen, she received a visit 
from her eccentric brother, the emperor Joseph the second, which 
had, or appeared to have, an extraordinaiy effect on the Parisians ; 
being so timed as to fall in with the new notions that had been 
adopted, of manly simplicity, and a republican severity of manners. 
The incognito he jDi'eserved, he carried so tar as to dismiss, in a very 
striking manner, all the glare and pomp of royalty ; the frankness 
of his manners, unostentatious and frugal mode of lile, led the French 
more particularly to notice, and to condemn more severely, the 
thoughtless luxury and dissipation of their own court and princes. 

22. The king had a hard and cruel task upon his hands ; he found 
it impossible to check a course of extravagance and levity in his 
own family, which he could not, and, in fact, did not approve" ; in his 
choice of ministers, he was sure to offend one party or the other ; 
thus, when in 1,776, on the dismission of M. Turgot, he first appoint- 
ed the celebrated M. Necker, of Geneva, to the high office of su- 
preme director of the finances, the privileged orders took the 
alarm ; they thought they saw in the citizen of a republic, and a 
protestant, a decided friend to the liberal ideas that were afloat to 
their prejudice, and the enemy and corrector of all abuses of power 
and place. When, on the removal of M. Necker, the management 
of the finances was delivered into other hands, the people complain 
ed that their friend and favourite had been sacrificed, to intrigue and 
cabal, and that he had been checked and supplanted, at a nrioment 
u'hen he was chalking out a system of reform, highly beneficial to 
fhe state, and favourable to their best interests. 

23. In 1,783, M. de Calonne undertook to restore order to the 
finances, and his measures were exactly such as were calculated to 
oring matters to a crisis, and hasten the revolution which had for a 
long time been impending. Inclined to favour the luxury and prod- 
i^jaiity of the court, and at the same time to provide for fhe deficien- 
cies in the revenue, he boldly attacked the privileged orders, by 
[); oposing, as the best impost he could devise, a general land tax 
fairly adjusted, and from which there should be no exemption. To 
carry this great point into execution, being no favourite with the 
parliament, he recommended the convocation of the assembly of the 
KOTABLES ; (a name given to a former meeting of select and distin- 
guished persons, in the year 1,626.) To this advice the king assent- 
ed, doubtless with the best intentions, though many about the court 
pretended, even at that time, to foresee in this measure the downfiil 
of the monarchy, and the ruin of tlie minister who had proposed it. 
The king gave bis consent, December 1,786, and in February 1,787 
this extraordinary assembly met. The minister had undoubtedly act- 
ed constitutionally in calling.it, however rashly in regard to his own 



MODERN HISTORY. 305 

Interests, and the king has been supposed to have imbibed from hig 
flitlicr a strong inclination to consult such public and national councils. 
In this instance, however, both the crown and the minister were de- 
ceived ; the latter, who expected to be allowed to lay his plans 
before them in the \vay of commands to be obeyed, was soon dis- 
placed, on the remonstrances and demand of the very assembly he 
had ventured to call together ; and though it did some good in the 
way of regulation and reform, during the short period of its sitting, 
which was only till the 25th of May, 1,787, it was far fi-oni answer- 
ing the purposes for wiiich it had been convoked. The members ol 
it,^hovvever, had acquired information hitherto withheld from the 
public, and imbibed principles friendly to liberty. 

24. On the dismission of M. de Calonne, his successor, the 
archbishop of Thoulouse, by an arbitrary and inconsiderate be- 
haviour, involved his sovereign in another unpleasant contest with 
the parliament, who, in a moment of irritation, called for a nr.eet- 
ing of the states-general. The credit and power of the parliaments 
had hitherto been chiefly owing to the disuse of these national 
councils, so that if it had been proposed with any sincere desire of 
redressing grievances, and resisting oppression, the members with 
whom it originated would have deserved the credit of patriotism ; 
but probably they w«ie swayed by motives less pure. The king, 
however, consented to their convocation in 1,792, but in the mean 
time had many unpleasant altercations with the parliament, and 
. on one occasion was treated witii so little ceremony, or rather such 
indignity, as it was thought, by the due d'Orleans, as to occasion his 
banishment. 

23. The minister, m order to break or reduce the poiver of par- 
liamf^nt, thus openly at variance with him, and to get rid of the 
younger members, \vhose refractory spirit was but too apparent, 
projected the appointment of a cour plcnldre^ consisting of persons 
selected by the king from the principal nobility, professions and 
ollicers of state. The court was formed, and sat long enough to 
enforce the ministerial decrees, but amidst such murmuring and 
coalusion, such violent remonstrances and objections, attended with 
popular commotions in the capital and provinces, that in a short 
time the scheme was abandoned, and the minister announced to the 
public the king''s intention of convoking the states-general in the 
year ensuing ; he was then dismissed from his high otfice, and, to 
the great joy of the parliament and people, M. JVecker Vv-as recalled. 

26. The royal word had been pledge ibr the summ.oning the 
states-general in 1,789; and it was soon found to be a promise, 
which, though the chief management of the linances had passed 
into other and more popular hands, could not easily be abandoned. 
They had not been assembled since the year 1,G14, and ditHcullies 
therefore were started as to the best mode of arranging them ; the 
king even condescended to refer the matter to the decision of all 
the corporate and learned bodies of the realm ; an extraordinary step 
to take, but favoured by tb.e minister, who had it in view to give con- 
sequence to the third estate, or commonalty, in order to counter- 
calance the too great influence of the privileged ordei's. 

27. This popular design of the minister, besides alarming the 
clergy and nobility, did not meet with the ready concurrence of 
the parliament; and it was even proposed, by M. d'Espresmesnil, 
a member who had incurred both banishment and imprisonment in 
tl^ course of his opposition to the court, to adopt at once the plan ot 

C c 2 ' r^O 



^C6 MODERN HISTORY. 

1,614; a proposal to which the parliament acceded; but it had the 
effect of rendering them immediately as unpopular as the privi- 
leged orders. The claims of the third estate met with the suppv-)rt 
of a large majority of the people, as might naturally have b( en 
expected at such a moment; the commons of 1,788 were very dif- 
ferent from those who were first summoned to meet in 1,302, upon 
apian which had continued to 1,614. It was reasonable to adopt 
new forms; and it was therefore strongly insisted that they should, 
upon this occasion, in order to be upon a par with the other orders, 
have a double representation, and deliberate together. Had the plan 
of the states-general of 1,614 been adopted, the parliament would 
have appeared there with much greater eclat than in any new ar- 
rangement ; this may account for the part they took upon this occa 
sion. They entirely expected, in demanding the convocation of the 
states, that they should have the chief place in that assembly, and 
continue to enjoy the confidence of the people. 

28. Such was the state of things at this memorable period ; an 
infiUuation the most surprising seemed to hurry on the privileged 
tuders to their ruin and destruction, and with them the monarchy. 
Instead of bending in any manner to the force of popular opinion, 
or acknowledging the justice of the claims made on them, as a fa- 
voured class, they more strongly than ever stood upon their privi- 
leges, and appeared to treat with contempt that powerful and now 
enlightened majority that was opposed to them ; they insisted more 
than ever upon their feudal rights, after the whole system had been 
virtually abolished. Conduct of this kind could not fail to stimulate 
the other party to deeds of violence and retaliation, in which the 
authority of the established laws and customs came soon to be to- 
tally disregarded, and every thing seemed to tend to ruin and dev- 
astation; when the election of the states-general was appointed to 
take place, both sides exerted themselves with the utmost zeal and 
anxiety, but the result was found to be highly favourable to the 
democratic party. 

29. Great changes had already taken place in the character and 
manners of the Parisians. Since the American war, a strong dispo- 
sition had been shown to imitate the English, in dress, manners, 
amusements, and freedom of speech ; the respect which had former- 
ly prevailed for high birth and rank was every day diminishing ; 
persor.s of all classes were beginning to be raised to situations of dis- 
tinction and confidence ; and some of the great themselves, instead 
of maintaining the distance preserved by their ancestors, made ap- 
proaches towards the lower ranks, by intermarriages, and the open 
and genera! encouragement of literature, trade, commerce, and 
agriculture ; even the females began to discuss questions of state, to 
express a lively and sentimental concern for all oppressed persons or 
wations, and to wish that all the young men who could speak elo- 
quently upon these subjects in their private assemblies, should have, 
as in England, a field opened to them lor the more public display of 
their talents and abilities. It is not to be wondered that, under these 
circumstances, every eye should be fixed on the meeting of that 
great national council, whose powers had not been called into action 
for the long sjiace of nearly two centuries. 



MODERN HISTORY. SOT 



SECTION X. 



AUSTRIA, FROM THE CONCLUSION OF THE SEVEN YEARS' 
WAR TO THE DEATH OF MARIA THERESA, 1,763—1,780. 

1. With reeiard to Austria, the seven years' war terminated with 
the peace of Hubertsbiirg, which was signed on the 5th of Febru- 
ary, 1,763, (see Sect. VI.) and on the 27th of May, 1,764, as the 
"riiits of that peace, tlie empress was gratified with the election of 
[ler son Joseph to the dignity of king of the Romans; a point of 
sjreat importance to her, considering the circumstances that had re- 
tarded the elevation of her royal consort to the imperial throne. 
The election was most opportune, for the emperor Francis survived 
it but a very short time, being struck with a tit of apoplexy in the 
month of August of the same year, while attending the nuptials ot 
his second son at Inspruck, in the Tyrol. Francis had borne his fac- 
ulties meekly, resigning to his imperial consort the cares, as well as 
the state and parade of government, which, indeed, more regularly 
appertained to her than to himself; he obviously withdrew from 
the authority that seemed to have devolved to him ; and if he occu- 
pied himself at all with the affairs of government, it was rather to 
supply its pecuniary demands from his Tuscan treasury, than for any 
other purposes; not so much in the way of gain, as of regular busi- 
ness and prudential management. Of the high estimation in which 
he w^s held by the empress there can be little doubt ; her affection 
for him had a romantic cast, and seemed founded on what so seldom 
occurs, or can be expected to occur in royal marriages, an early, 
fixed, nnd solid attachment. 

2. Her majesty employed Iierself, from the conclusion of the 
treaty of Hubertsburg, in ameliorating in every way possible the 
condition of her country ; in founding philosophical academies, re- 
forming the schools, encouraging by premiums the manafactures, 
and in restraining several feudal abuses: she had the opportunity 
afforded her of contributing to the introduction of the variolous inocu- 
lation into her dominions. She interfered, and in a very judicious 
manner, in the regulations regarding monasteries and nunneries, abol- 
ished the dangerous privilege of asylum, the horrible excesses of 
the inquisition, and the inhuman judicial process of torture. She 
also suppressed the society of Jesuits. 

3. Considering the extreme repugnance Maria Theresa had 
shown to the dismemberment of her own domains on the oeaih of 
her father, it must seem greatly to redound to her discredit that she 
could have become a party to the partition of Poland : but it may 
very fairly be inferred that she was driven into it. Being unable to 
serve the cause of Saxony she had no other alternative against the 
combination of Russia, Prussia, and the Porte, than to claim a part : 
though it is almost proved that she was drau'n in jjy Prussia to par- 
take ot the plunder, that she might also share the odium excited by 
it. After the partition indeed began to have effect, and was sanction- 
ed by the Polish delegates nominated for that purpose, Maria 
Theresa appears to have had no scruples in extending her encroach- 
ments, and supporting Prussia in the same attempts, to such a degree 
even as to provoke the interposition of Russia. It was not till the 



308 MODERN HISTORY. 

year 1,777 that all the three parties were satisfied, and brought to 
an agreement in regard to limits ; the portion assigned to Austria 
being decidedly the greatest in extent. In the same year the em- 
press queen, by a convention, signed on the 5th day of February, 
obtained possession of the Buccovina, ceded to her by the Porte. 
Her situation was at this period particularly flourishing, her army 
numerous and well disciplined, her finances in good order, and her 
alliance with France cemented by many marriages with the Bourbon 
princes ; but after the partition of Poland, and the connexion the 
empress queen seemed thus to have formed with Russia and Prussirj, 
an anti-Austrian party sprang up at the court of Versailles, who 
persuaded the king to renew his connexions with Prussia, in order 
to secure some check against the augmentation of the power of 
Austria ; this, however, was done without violating subsisting tret-- 
ties, or breaking friendship with Maria Theresa. Lewis XVI. wes 
tnuch more jealous of the son than of the mother, and not withoil 
reason ; the views of the former being evidently ambitious and er- 
croaching, and highly anti-gallican. 

4. In December, 1,777, on the death of the elector of Bavarit, 
both the emperor and empress queen laid claim to his dominions a 
tiels or allodials, properly descending or reverting to one or othar 
of them, having previously taken steps to arrange matters with their 
more immediate competitor, the elector Palatine ; and relyin; 
strongly on the support of France, as well as on the age and intirnii- 
ties of the king of Prussia : but the latter found means to interpose, 
by stimulating the duke of Deux Fonts, presumptive heir to the 
elector Palatine, to appeal to himself and the king of France against 
the dismemberment of the Bavarian territories, referring, in confir- 
mation of his rights, to the treaty of Pavia, confirmed by the Golden 
Bull, and the treaty of V\^estphalia ; all these authorities were disput- 
ed on the part of the emperor and empress, who insisted on the 
validity and legality of the arrangements .made with the elector 
Palatine. The emperor in the mean while offered to submit his 
own claims to the judgment of the diet, and to mediate between his 
mother and the other claimants : preparations, nevertheless, were 
made for deciding the matter by arms, and both the emperor and 
king of Prussia took the field at the head of their respective forces : 
but the empress queen, fearing for her son, made many overtures oi 
peace, sought the mediation of Russia and France, and, though con- 
tinually thwarted by the emperor, who was inclined to war, and urr- 
willing to sulmit to the dictates of foreign powers, succeeded in i-e- 
storing tranquillity, by the treaty of Teschen, 1,779. By this treaty 
many arrangements were entered into to satisfy the king of Prussia, 
thcelector Palatine, the duke of Deux Fonts, and the elector of 
Saxony. And Austria acquired territory, though of no great extent, 
very important in point of situation. She obtained from liavaria the 
circle of Burgnausen, which opened a passage to the Tyrol, and 
was not compelled absolutely to renounce any of her claims, though 
she found means to forego with credit the further prosecution of 
them. 

France had done enough during these dispi\tes about Bavaria, K 
give umbrage to the court of Vienna; she had secretly opposed the 
dismemberment of the electorate, she had not supplied the succoura 
she was required to do according to the treaty of Versailles, and she 
had manifested a distrust of the emperor, bordering upon contempt 
This conduct ha4 the effect of throwing the latter into the arms of 



MODERN HISTORY. 30'j 

England and Russia; in the contest with America, Joseph espoused 
the cause of England, pronounced it to be the cause of all sovereigns, 
and {prohibited ail intercourse between the subjects of the empire 
and the revolted colonies. With regard to Russia he took a more 
active p:rrt; lie visited Catherine on her celebrated journey to the 
Crimea, and at Petersburg ingratiated himself with her to an ex- 
traordinary degree, alienated her from the old king of Prussia, and in 
so doing procured her assistance in promoting the advancement ol 
his brother the archduke Maximilian to the coadjutorship of Cologne 
and Mu-.:ster, the last wish of Maria Theresa, who had thus, in an 
extraordinary manner, found the means to provide, before her death, 
for all her numerous family. But her end was approaching: in 
November, 1,780, she was seized with an illness, wiiich terminated 
her existence ; her last days were passed in acts of devotion and atten- 
tions to her son, the emperor, and others of her family, particularly 
striking and grand. She displayed at this awful moment a powerful 
mind, a warm heart,- and a truly christian fortitude : she died No- 
vember 29, 1,780, in the 64th year of her age, and 41st of her 
leign. She was not exempt from weaknesses, but her virtues, 
both public and private, greatly preponderated ; the former were of 
the most splendid cast, the latter altogether as amiable. Nine out of 
sixteen children survived her. 

Joseph, who succeeded her ; Leopold, great duke of Tuscany ; 
Ferdinand, governor of Austrian Lombardy and duke of Moden;) 
by reversion; Maximilian, coadjutor of Cologne and Munster; Mary 
Anne, abbess of Prague ; Mary Christina, wife of Albert, duke ol 
Saxony ; Maria Elizabeth, abbess of Inspruck ; Maria Amelia, duchess 
of Parma ; Caroline, queen of Naples ; Maria Antoinetta, queen oi 
France. 



SECTION XL 
REIGNS OF JOSEPH II., LEOPOLD II., &c., FROM 1,765 TO 1,800. 

1 . On" the demise of his father, Francis I., Joseph, who had been 
elected king of the Romans in 1,764, ascended the imperial throne, 
at the age of twenty-four, in the year 1,765, his mother being still 
living. It was soon apparent that he projected great changes, and 
the reformation of many abuses, but in pursuing these purposes he 
was undoubtedly too precipitate and too adventurous ; his educa- 
tion had not been such as to tit him for such high attempts. It was 
impossible to unite in the way he proposed such scattered domin- 
ions; it was impossible to carry into execution all the schemes he 
had invented for the consolidation and improvement of the empire. 
In the Belgic provinces, in particular, he rendered himself extreme- 
ly unpopular by the violence of his proceedings, but this v.'as not 
till after his mother''s death ; as long as she lived she sedulously en- 
deavoured to restrain the impetuosity and warlike disposition ot her 
son, apprehending that'he had many enemies at hand, and that not- 
witbstanding the pretended courtesy of the king of Prussia, mani- 
fested in private interviews as well as public negotiations, he could 
not have much chance of success in coping with so able, powerful, 
and experienced an oi>ponenl ; in this, perhaps, she showed some 
sense, though it has been doubted whether she did not too much 
control the ardent spirit of her son. The empress queen dying in 



310 MODERN HISTORY. 

the year 1,780, Joseph was left to the pursuit of his own whims and 
projects, in many instances most extravagant, in almost all oppressive. 
For though there was an appearance of Uberality, and much show of 
good, he evidently seemed to consult nothing but his own arbitrary 
will. 

2. Had his education been such as to enable him to form a risjht 
judgment of things, had not his genius been cramped, and nis rea- 
son perverted, by a choice of tutors and preceptors peculiarly ill 
qualified to fit him for the arduous and conspicuous station to which 
he had been elevated by the circumstances of his birth and con- 
nexions, he might certainly have done great good, and actually 
ameliorated the condition of a large and most interesting portion 
of the human race, for his manners were such as to have led him 
to a just knowledge of their wants, and a proper sense of their 
claims upon society. He travelled through Europe, as if he were 
bent on seeing the real condition of his iellow-creatures, in all ranks 
and situations of lite ; discarding all pom.p and parade, he sought the 
society and conversation of persons far below him, and encouraged 
every one to give him information upon subjects most nearly touch- 
ing their interests. Since Peter I. cf Russia, no monarch had taken 
such pains to procure information, and survey every thing with his 
own eyes. 

3. The whole extent of his dominions was supposed to contain 
a population of 24,000,000, distinguished however by a great va- 
riety of laws, customs, religious opinions, and language ; the lower 
orders subject to many restrictions, attaching to the state of vas- 
salage in which they were still held by their feudal lord and su- 
periors. The Roman catholic religion chiefly prevailed ; the cler- 
gy were wealthy, and possessed great influence. Maria Theresa 
ha J perceived what was wrong, and had shown an excellent dis- 
position to amend matters, but had partly been compelled by cir- 
cumstances, and swayed by prudence, to proceed moderately and 
gradually. Joseph was more impetuous ; he was so eager to break 
down all distinctions, that, among other regulations, he insisted 
on having but one language for the whole empire, though no less 
than ten principal languages were spoken at that time, and in 
common use. Within the confines of his dominions, all his other 
projects were of the same description, whether good or bad, ex- 
ceedingly too hasty ; he broke up old systems before he was well 
prepared to establish new ones, and in the interval, necessarily 
■occasioned such confusion, disgust, and trouble, as to hinder every 
good effect, and thwart his own purposes ; in all his regulations he 
seemed bent upon upholding his own imperial power, not only by 
omitting to introduce any new checks upon it, but even abolishing 
old ones ; he particularly displeased his Hungarian subjects, those 
faithful adherents of his mother, by interfering with their laws and 
customs, and ofiiending some of their fondest prejudices. 

4. Though attached to the Roman catholic religion, he showed 
great disregard of the papal authority, by subjecting the monas- 
teries to episcopal jurisdiction, suppressing many, and reducing the 
numbers, both of monks ^nd nuns, in all that were permitted to 
continue, with great wan< of feeUng ; he omitted to make any pro- 
vision for those who were discharged ; he broke through many su- 
perstitions, not rightly judging how deeply they were interwoven 
with the religious feelings of the people, and how much the lattet 
therefore v/ere likely to he affected by such violence and haste i 



MODERN HISTORY. Sli 

he abolished the privileges of primogeniture, declared marriage 
(heretofore regarded as a sacrament) (o be only a civil contract, 
and rendered bastards capable of inheriting. The wisest and most 
truly liberal of all iiis innovations was tliat which, by a public edict, 
diited Octolier 31, 1,781, established a general toleration tor all the 
^ AtaUwlici,''' or dissenters from the Romish religion. This and other 
measures of interference with ecclesiastical matters so disturbed and 
filarnied pope Pius VI., as to induce him to take a journey to Vienna- 
personalfy to ie:r!onstrate with the emperor. His plan was opposed 
at Rome, and entirely discouraged by the Austrian ministry ; but his 
holiness persisted, and, after a visit oi much form and ceremony, re- 
turned in about a month, without effecting any change m the senti- 
ments or proceedings of Joseph. 

5. In the same precipitate manner, as in other instances, he sud- 
denly abolished feudal vassalage, without any suitable arrangements 
for the relief of those who must evidently suffer by such an impor- 
tant change of tenure ; and \vhile he prided himself upon putting an 
end to slavery, he subjected the emancipated to such arbitrary im- 
posts of his own invc-ntion, as plainly to convince them that they had 
not in reahty recovered their freedom. To countervail these errors 
in legislation and government, he certainly showed great merit in 
the encouragement he gave to ai'ts, letters, trade, and manufactures; 
in founding numerous schools and universities, public Ubraries, labor- 
atories and observatories • in improving the public roads, making 
canals, and establishing free ports, In 1,784, he obtained permission 
from the Porte to navigate the Turkish seas, which seemed to aflbrd 
excellent means to his Hungarian subjects, who were otherwise ill 
situated ibr trade, to carry on an extensive commerce by way of 
the Danube ; war, however, soon interrupted this accommodation ; in 
1 ,787 it came to an end. 

6. In 1,781, Joseph, havmg concerted his plans with France, who 
had altered hei measures towards him, probably for the very pur- 
pose, determined to. break through the barrier treaty* imposed 
upon Austria n'hen the Netherlands were transierred to Charles VI., 
and which, though undoubtedly aifoi'ding security to Austria itself 
against the French, must be allowed to have constantly carried in 
it something galling to the feelings of the imperial court, as entirely 
dictated by the maritime powers. The fortitications of the barrier 
towns had now fallen into decay, and the connexion which had 
for some time subsisted between the courts of Versailles and Vien- 
na, seemed to aiibrd the emperor plausible grounds for declining to 
pay for the military protection of a frontier no longer likely to be 
disturbed. He therefore directed all the fovtihcations in the Nether- 
lands to be done away, except those of Laxemburgh^ Ostend^ Munur, 
and Antwerp ; while the Dutch, who had been desired to withdraw 
their garrisons, as no longer necessary, or entitled to pay, judged it 
wise to comply. 

7. This violation of the banier treaty, complied with in the last 
instance so easily by the united provinces, was quickly^ followed 
by fresh demands on the latter power, under pretence of more ac- 
curately adjusting the boundaries of the DutcU and Austrian Neth- 
erlands. 'Phe^ cession of the city of Maestricht and the contigu- 
ous district of Outer Meuse being among other things insisted 
upon. At length, however, and about the year 1,784, these claims 

*• See Coxe It. 152, 153, &c. 



318 MODERN HISTORY. 

all seemed to merge in one sweeping demand, to have the lull and 
free navigation of the river Schekl, lor the purposes of establishing, 
in favour of his Flemish subjects, a direct trade with the Eas^t h> 
dies, and of restoring the city of Antwerp, once the emporium ol 
Europe, to its proper degree of splendour and importance , a proj- 
ect, which, if it could have been accomphshed without interlering 
with so many foreign interests, and the manifest violation of suo- 
sisting treaties, may be said to have rellected no disgrace on the 
policy, wisdom, or paternal care of tiie emperor; but it was impos' 
sible to expect that such changes should be allowed to proceed 
wilhout great opposition. It was soon discovered that both France 
and Frussia were prepared to support the Dutch against him, and 
though the empress of Russia had endeavoured to (leter (he latter 
from aiding the Hollanders, the project was laid aside, and .fosepli, 
instead of his views on the Scheld, resumed some of his former de- 
mands. In the end, however, ev^ry thing was compromised by 
money, through the mediation of the French king, or rather in con- 
formity to the dictates of the French minister. 

8. Another object which the eniperoi' attempted almost at the 
same time, hut equally without eilecl, was the exchange of the 
Netherlands for Bavaria. He had taugiil his mother to covet the 
latter country, and its acquisition would undoubtedly have render- 
ed his dominions more compact, and given him a continued line ol 
territory, from the I'rontier of Turkey to tlio Mediterranean sea, 
while it might have relieved him from the charge of a more distant 
portion of liis dominions, held by a very uncertain and troublesome 
t' uure-. Joseph had calculated upon overcoming all the difhcul- 
ties that might arise from foreign powers; had secured the consent 
ot Russia, and even negotiated the proposed exchange with tlie 
elector of Bavaria, f who, if it took place, was to be made king of 
Auslrasia or Burguntly.) But P'rederic 11., at the age of seveniy- 
fbiu', again interposed : and, by forming with the several princes and 
slates of the empire what was called the Gcmianic union, for main- 
taining the integrity and indivisibility of the Germ_anic body in gen- 
eral, cflectually prevented the exchange so much desired. The 
principal parties to the union, which was settled and confirmed, July 
1,785, were, besides the king of Prussia, the electors of Hanoveij 
Saxony, and Menlz, the margrave of Anspuch, and the duke ot 
Deux Fonts. The whole scheme, indeed, was found to be so im- 
practicable, that the emperor and elector judged it prudent to deny 
that any convention to that effect had taken place between them. 

9. In 1,788, Joseph incurred considerable disgrace, by his attacks 
ripon Turkey. He had projected, in conjunction with the empress 
of Russia, whom he had flattered by a visit to the Crimea, the total 
dismemberment of that empire ; but blunder upon blunder defeated 
his purposes, and he retired from the contest blamed by all parties 
in 1,789, however, hostilities were renewed, and in the battle of 
ilimnik, which took place in the month of September, the combined 
forces of Russia and Austria gained an important victory over the 
Turks, under the command of the grand .vizier. The capture of 
Belgrade soon after, by the army of Loudon, completed their 
triumphs ; but their success occasioned jealousies, which eifectually 
irterrupted the career of victory. England, Holland, and Prussia, 
began to be alarmed at the increasing power of Russia and Austria; 
and. by fomenting the troubles in the Netherlands, drew the atten- 
tion of Joseph from his intended encroachments on Turkey. 



MODERN HISTORY. 313 

10. In no part of his dominions were his attempts at reformation 
worse receiv^ed, or worse m-innEjed, than in the No.thej'lands. Di- 
vided into many ])rovinccs, and eacii province governed by distinct 
htws, customs, and regulations; some secured l)y charter, in the 
enjoyment of important privileges and immunities, notliing could 
possibly have been thought of more vexatious than that of redu- 
cing them all under one system of administration, commencing with 
the sudden and violent abolilion of many convents, and tlie sujv 
pression of many institutions, forms, and ceremonies, by long usage 
become little less than sacred in the eyes of the people. The 
courts of law, the universities and schools, were subjected to sin>- 
ilar changes, nor did the imperial decrees spare any order of men^ 
or any public establishment, however respectable in other respects, 
from undergoing this severe ordeal, and revolutionary process. 
Nothing could exceed the consternation and disgust with which these 
new regulations were received by all ranks of persons, from the 
lowest to the highest-; for even the governors-general sided with 
the refractory party, and were averse from carrying into execution 
a system so exceedingly repugnant to the teelings of the people in 
general, but especially of the principal persons amongst the cler- 
gy, laity, and magistrates. Riots and disturbances took place, af 
might have been expected, in many parts, and France was appi-'ed 
to tor assistance, as guarantee of their liberties. The whole au- 
thority of government seemed to be vested in the minister pieni):'«> 
tentiary of the emperor, count Belgioso, who had to contend yAnie 
against the formidable opposition that had sprung up ; ibr not only 
the governors-general, as has been before intimated, wen? on the 
side of the people, but even the imperial minister, prince Kaunitz, 
who greatlj disapproved the violent proceedings of his mastor. 

11. Joseph at iirst assumed an appearance of rigour and inllexibili- 
ty, in the pursuit of his new measures, little suitable to the actual 
situation of alfairs. He had not foreseen so formidable a resistance, 
and when it occurred, he depended too much on his means tor sup- 
pressing it ; embarrassed as he was at the time by the war Av-th 
Turkey. After much threatening, therefore, and slrong mark^ ot 
displeasure against the Belgic states, ho found it advisable (o com 
promise matters, ibr a time at least : or rather to offer to relinqu"" 
all the objectionable parts" of his new system ; to re-establish iii« 
ancient constitution, contirm the celebrated charter, called ^"''J"K' 
euse Entree^und submit to have the case referred i" delegate^ on Ijotli 
sides. In this, however, he was not sincere, ^nd his dui^'icity ami 
arbitrary disposition becoming everv day more man^est, it was 
impossible to prevent things comiog'to cxtremitf. ihe example 
of France was contagious ; the whole popub^ion became (iiviueu 
into two. parties of patriots and .xjyalists, ''ud the /«'"''^f'. "7/ 
soon found to be the strongest. I<» Noven^^er, t,/89, tbe suues de- 
clared their independence, i-i conseq./ence of a meetmg icKl at 
(ihent ; the soldiery began to take part with the people. On the 
26th of December, the t^atcs of Brabant assumed the sovereign pow- 
er, in which they «ere soon followed by the states o* the other 
provinces: a fedwal union was formed, under the title of the bmted 
Belgic States, -ind a congress of deputies to administer the new gov- 
ernment, appointed to assemble on the 11th of January, K790. 

12. Thus w^ere the low countries sacrificed to the injudicious and 
hasty ine;isures of the emperor, who was too late rendered sensible 
of his errofs, when he found them perfectly irreparable, either lo 
'Dd '10 



314 MODERN HlSTOilY. , . ^ 

the way of conciliation or force. He lived to see his offers of jjeace 
and reconciUation rejected with scorn and contempt, while he totally 
failed in his endeavours to procure the aid of foreign states t^ reduce 
his revolted subjects to obedience. In other parts of his dominions, 
particularly in Hungary, the same spirit of opposition to his plans 
had been excited, and kept up by similar measures of irritation and 
defiance, till the time of his decease drew near. He would then 
willingly have retraced his steps, and did, indeed, take some meas- 
ures to conciliate the offended Hungarians; but the termination of his 
life was fast approaching, hastened no doubt by the opposition and 
ill fortune which had attended almost the whole of his political career. 
He had weakened his constitution in all probability by the restless 
life he had led, and the hardships and fatigues to which he had ex- 
posed himself in the field ; but he suffered severely in his mind from 
the course things had taken in the Netherlands, and though he exhib- 
■'ted in his last moments the fortitude, resignation, and" composure 
of a true christian, yet it is truly melancholy to think that his whole 
reign was passed in rendering himself and others wretched. He 
^xpired on the 20th of February, 1,790, in the forty-ninth year of 
hi; age; and leaving no issue, was succeeded in his^ hereditary do- 
minions by his brother Leopold, who was also chosen emperor before 
t^e end of the year in which his brother died. 

13. The reign of the emperor Leopold H. was very short, and 
tar from a happy one. His brother had left his dominions in a 
wretched state of discontent and confusion ; diminished, in some 
most important instances, and pretty generally exposed to the attacks 
of formidable and designing enemies. Leopold had been able to do 
some good amongst his Tuscan subjects before he ascended the 
royal and imperial thrones, but his genius and talents were judged 

be unequal to the government of a mighty empire. He soon 
pve satisfaction however, to the aching minds of his new subjects, 
by restoring to many their ancient privileges, and revoking the in- 
judicious and irritating innovations of his deceased brother. Nor did 
j»e manage his foreign negotiations ill, which, had they failed, might 

ji^ye mvolved him in inextricable dhhculties. By flattering tjie Eng- 
"-'^1 and appearing to enter into their views in regard to Turkey 
anu u^ Netherlands, he deterred the king of Prussia from prosecut- 

ng Ills designs cpon Gallicia, which he wished to procure for Fo- 
idnti, m exchange to- Dantzic and Thorn. Afterwards, by fomenting 
mai monarUi s reseniment against England, who appeared to have 
ai>an<ioned hiui, he mai«ged to form a union with the very court 
wmcn ai ine c(;q^moncemei> of his reign had manifested the great- 
est symptoms of rivaVy and ^oposition. This accommodation with 
the kmg oi Frussia greaUy facii>ated his accession to the imperial 
crom;.- whicn was contcrrt^l upon i.;^, Octobei 9, 1,790. 

14. by very hrm, but cor^/diatory behaviour towards the Hun- 
garians, wiio setm to have imbibed at ttiU time many of the demo- 
cratic pnncip.es of the French, ho not only eflectually ingratiated 
himselt With tho leading persons of the kiiigdctn, but regained the 
aftections of the people at large, which had beU sadly alienated 
through his brother's unwise interference with their most favourite 
customs and established rights. 

15. Leopold did not so easily settle his disputes with the Netber- 
iands. The mediation of England, Holland, and Prussia, had been 
offered, but he rather inclined to relv on his own strength, and hi3 
connexions with France, which were every hour becoming more 



MODERN HISTORY. Si 5 

unf ertain and precarious. He had recourse therefore to force, and 
succeeded^indeed in re-establishing the imperial authority, but total- 
ly detached from any cordial returns of loyally on the part of the 
Belgians, which became but too apparent, when his subsequent dis- 
putes with the revolutionary government of France exposed those 
parts of the Austrian dominions to fresh troubles and disturbances. 

16. The situation of the emperor Leopold, it must be granted, 
was very embarrassing in the tirst years of the French revolution. 
The constraint put upon the royal family of France, to which he 
stood so nearly allied, and the threats denounced so openly agains 
the queen his sister, in particular, must have greatly affected his 
•private feelings, while many of the German states, whose rights, 
e"clesiastical and territorial, guarantied by the peace of West- 
phalia, had been invaded in Alsace, Franche Compte, and Lorraine 
by the decree of the national assembly, for abolishing the feudal 
privileges, publicly called upon him to interpose in their behalf, as 
head ot the empire ; as he stood bound to do indeed by his capitula- 
tion with the diet, on receiving the impei'ial crown. In regard to 
the royal family of France, liis first plans, in conjunction with the 
king of Prussia, were clearly injudicious, and injurious to the cause 
lie took in hand. T'le French revolutionists were not in a state to 
be intimidated by angry manifestoes or threats of foreign interfe 
rence. The emperor himself, indeed, did often appear cautious of 
embroiling his country in a war with France, but was at length prob 
ably pi'ovokcd into it, by the violence of the Jacobinical faction al 
Paris, ratncr than persuaded by the representations of the emigrant 
princes, or royal family at Paris, as was so strongly alleged. Beyond 
the alliance with Prussia, however, concluded on the 19th of Febru- 
ary, 1,792, the emperor Leopold can scarcely be said to have had 
any share in the war with France ; for, on the 27th of that very 
month, he was seized with an illness, which in three days terminated 
his life, at the early age of forty-four, leaving his dominions in a 
state of more serious danger than when he began his reign. 

17. The emperor Leopold was succeeded in his hereditary states 
by his eldest son Francis, born in 1,768, who became emperor in 
th6 July following his lather's death, and still reigns. This mon- 
arch had to begin those hostilities with France which his predeces- 
sor seems to have contemplated with considerable distrust, and 
he became a party to the too hasty proceedings of his Prussian ally 
and the duke of ISrunswick, who increased the irritation and pro- 
voked the resistance of the French, by menaces extremely impo- 
litic, considering the actual state of things. They endeavoured, in- 
deed, to throw the blame on the emigrant princes, who, it was 
alleged, had misled them by false representations of the good dispo- 
sition of the people in the interior of France. They expected to 
find a large majority ready to co-operate with them in the overthrow 
of the ruling taction 

18. The emperor soon found himself in a very awkward situa- 
tion. Instead of invading Frar.ce with any effect, he had the mor- 
tification to see his jwn dominions invaded by the French, under 
a general (Dnmourier), who had boasted that he would subdue 
the Austrian Netherlands before the end of the year ; an engage- 
ment which he in a great measure fulfilled, through the disaflectioa 
of the Belgians, who were ready enough to thro^v otf the Austrian 
yoke, heedless (;;a( Ihoy were in the way of having another imme- 
diately imposed upr^i-. them still more galling and vexatious. In the 



5i6 !\iODL:i-:-. .:to . 

month of November, 1,792, all sultjeciinn to the imperial authority 
w;is openly renounced in the very capiSai oi' tiie iNetiierlands, iind 
the Krencii allowed to enter the city in triumph. While these things 
were go'uit^ on in Flander?, Germany itself was invaded by the French 
general, Custine, Mentz taken, and heavy contributions levied in the 
towns of Worms and Frankfort. 

19. Early in the year 1,793, the Austrians under general Clair- 
iiiit and the prince of Saxe Coburg, obtained advantages over the 
French, at Aix-la-Chapelle, which were followed by the capttue 
ol" the towns of Valenciennes and Conde, in conjunction with the 
IJiiti.^b army under the commaml of the duke of York. A separa- 
ion of the two armies atterwards took place, which was attended 
vvilii unpleasant circumstances, and seems to have happened very 
:ontrary to the de^-ire and wishes of the Austrian commanders. 
The troops under the duke laid siege to Dunkirk, but were unsuc- 
cessful in their attempts against the place, being obliged to abandon 
*he undertaking with the loss of the greatest part of their artillery 
uid stores. 
L'O. In the year 1,794, the allied armies again acted in conjunction 
-ainsl the French under general Pichegru, the emperor him>elt 
1,', iug joined the camp, but the overwhelming power of the French 
■■ ilied all their attempts to defend the JN'elherlands, which feii en- 
;!(iy into the hands of the enemy. 

M. The share which the emperor Francis II. had in the final 
.-inemberment of Poland, 1,795, will be shewn in the history of 
iiat unhappy country. The king of Prussia having gained great 
..Ivanlages by this transaction, dechned any long-:;r assisting the allies 
.gainst France, and in open violation of his engagements with Eng- 
land, made a peace with the French government,. April 5, 1,795, to 
the great disgust of the confederates. 

i"2. The contests bettveen the armies of Germany and France, 

II tlie years l,79t), 1,797, were carried on with the greatest vigour, 

^iii, and bravery, on the Pvhine, in Suabia, in the Tyrol, and in 

aiy. In 1,796, the archduke Charles, brother of the emperor, 

o'lired great glory by checking the progress of the two celebrat- 

I'lench generals, Jourdan and Moreau : and, though compelled 

■lire belbre Buonaparte, in 1,797, and to subscribe to the peace 

'. ainpo-Formio, as will be related elsewhere, his credit with the 

;, remained undiminished, and his reputation as a general unim- 

I!. i. Un the renewal of the war in 1,799, at the instigation of 

- .Wapohtan court, the Austrians were assisted by the Kussiaiis. 

■1 al the close of the eighteenth century, the tide of aHiiirs seemed 

' l)e tui ah)g greatly against the French, when a new revolution in 

i'H Huctuating government of that disturbed people, suddenly cbaiii^- 

»d- the lace of things, as will be shewn in our continuation ol tlie 

hi' tory o( France. 

SECTION XII. 

FRANCE, FROM THE OPENING OF THE ASSEMBLY OF THE 
STATES-GENERAL, 1,789, TO THE DEATHS OF THE KING 
\N1) QUEKX, 1,793. 

I. The states-general met, May 5, 1,789. The king's speech has 
been much admired, as the address of an upright, humane, and 



MODERN iiiSTORi. 317 

patriotic prince, to a respectable assemblage of his subjects, by 
whose political and legislative exertions he hoped to improve the 
state of the nation. The nobles and clergy had expressed a willing- 
ness to forego their pecuniary privileges, but there were other 
grounds upon which they seemed likely to be at variance with the 
third estate. The latter were for obliterating all traces of distinc- 
tion in their legislative capacity; while the former were so impm 
dent as to take some steps, not only indicative of an invincible attach- 
ment to s,uch distinctions, but bearing an air of arrogance and defi- 
ance in them, ill suited to the times. The very costume adopted on 
the occasion was calculated to render the representatives of the 
commonalty almost ridiculous in the eyes of their countrymen. 
The nobles and clergy were distinguished by robes peculiarly rich 
and brilliant ; but the whole of the third estate ^vere directed to 
appear in the common and antiquated black dress of the members of 
the law, though of various callings and professions. As soon, how- 
ever, as the commons had verified their poweis and were prepared 
to act, without waiting for the concurrence of the other two orders, 
it was proposed by a M. Le Grand, and seconded by the Abbe Sieyes, 
to call their meeting the '• J\'aiio)ial Assembly^'' as forming a national 
representation one and indivisible. This was eagerly adopted by 
a majority of the members, but objected to by the king ; at length, 
however, some of the clergy and nobles having joined the third estate, 
the king himself condescended to approve and sanction the union, a 
matter of great triumph to the popular party, and which, in fact, 
made them the arbiters of the destiny of France. 

2. On the lltliof July, 1,789, the king thought it necessary to 
dismiss M. Necker ; many tumults and insurrections were the con- 
sequence of this unpopular proceeding; the Bastile state prison, 
once crowded with the victims of arbitrary power, but at this mo- 
ment, and under the mild reign of Lewis XV I., almost empty, was 
besieged by the mob, taken, and razed to the ground. After many 
tumults of this kimi, the king judged it expedient to comply with 
the wishes of his people, and to recall the discarded minister; he 
was also induced by circumstances, to yield to another demand of 
more importance, namely, the dismissal of all his troops from the 
environs of Paris and V'ei-sailles. In the meanwhile, the marquis de 
la Fayette, who liad been engaged in America, and there imbibed a 
spirit of liberty, was lixed upon to take the command of the now 
militia or city guard. Alarmed at the appearance of things at this 
period, many nobles, and even one of the king's brothers, left the 
kingdom. This liad undoubtedly a bad eifect ; it not only left the 
king more exposed to the violence of faction, but seemed to betoken 
a disregard of the liberties of their country, and a settled purpose of 
invoking foreign aid. 

3. The national assembly soon divided itself into two parties ; 
the aristocrats, or such as not only favoured royalty, but to a cer- 
tain extent, the privileged orders, nobles, and clergy; and the 
democrats, or advocates of freedom ; the swon enemies of all op- 
pressive and distinct privileges ; they were also distinguished into 
royalists and patnots. Among the former ^ve may reckon the modr 
crates, whose speeches in the assembly are justly to be admired, 
for their extreme good sense and rational politics. Of the nobles, 
it should be observed, that the most obnoxious were those who 
had purchased their nobihty, amounting to many thousands. Of 
the ancient, and hereditary nobility there were, it was comput- 

Dd2 



SIS MODERN HISTORY. 

ed, not more than two hundred families in the whole kingdom 
when the revolution began, nor were their pnvik-ges and exemp- 
tions by any means so great as was pretended. It was soon seen 
which party was the most powerful; on the 4(h of August, 1,789 
decrees were passed, as if with the full consent of the whole as- 
sembly, for the abolition of the privileges of the nobles and clergy, 
provinces and towns ; while persons of evei-y rank and description 
were pronounced to be eligible to all civil, miUlary, and ecclesi- 
astical appointments. The royal family were exposed to horrible 
insults and indignities at Versailles, and at length almost forcibly 
conveyed to Paris ; in consequence of which removal, the assem- 
bly also adjourned its sittings to the capital, a fatal step to take, 
as it could not but expose them to the tyranny of a faction, ami 
the fury of the Parisian mob. Among the measures aclopttnl at 
this period, the most important were those which placed all 
church property at the disposal of the nation, dissolved all monas 
tic establishments, feudal privileges and rights, and suppressed the 
provincial parliaments and assemblies, by artfully dividing the king- 
dom into 83 departments, the work of the Abbe Sieyes; by this act 
the very name of province was obliterated from the French vocabu- 
lary, and with it all pecular rights, laws, and jurisdictions; all pro 
vincial governors, commandants, sub-delegates, presidents, and tri- 
bunals of election ; n)ayors, echevms, jurats, courts of aid, chambei-s 
of accounts, &;c. Every thing was at this time transacted in the way 
of violence and destruction ; every law voted by acclamation, wif.) 
little patience and less judgment ; thus, when it was proposed lO 
abolish all titles and hereditary distinctions, armorial bearings, live- 
ries, &,c. the democrats would scarcely suffer the question to be de- 
bated, and it was carried by a large majority, though so many mt-tn- 
bers of the assembly must have been deeply affected by it. 

4. The national assembly was slow in preparing a constitutional 
code, particularly in deciding upon the three following questions. 
Whethi^r such assemblies should be pormanent or {-eriodical ? com- 
posed of one or two chambers ? and whether the king's veto shuidd 
be absolute or suspensive ? ^Vhile these things were in agitation, the 
king had attempted to rescue himself iVom tne trammels imposed 
upon him, by a timely escape from Paris ; but he was stopped on his 
journey, and compelled to return. At length the assembly terminat- 
ed its labours ; a constitutional act was prepared and presented to 
the king, of which, after an interval of ten days, he tieclared his ac- 
ceptance. Had he been free, it is impossible that he could have 
given his sanction to a measure which subjected the monarch to the 
will of a domineering assembly, and was ill-calculated to repress tiie 
efforts and designs of a licentious and restless faction. The assembly, 
however, having thus completed its task, was dissolved by the king 
on the 30th day of September, 1,791, being succeeded by another 
convention, denomintited "the legislative assembly," whose delibera- 
tions were contincd to the space only of one year ; none of the 
members of the former assembly being eligible to the latter. 

5. In the year 1,792, Austria and Prussia, in consequence of a 
declaration and agreement (according to all accounts imjjrudent) 
determined upon at Pilnitz, in the preceding year, began to inter- 
fere in behalf of the king and royai lli-mily, but so i^r from alarm- 
ing the revolutionary purty in France, their interposition seemed 
only to have the effect of instigating it to. acts of greater violence 
and more determined courage. War was without scruple declared 



I\iOi)l-:KJN HISTORY. ai9 

againsl the king of Hungary and Bohemia, in the montti of April, 
and every preparation made to resist all counter revolutionary 
projects. Sweden and Russia had shewn a strong disposition aiso to 
interfere; but the assassination of the Swedish monarch, Gustavu^ 
HI., in 1,792, and the distance of Russia from France, prevented 
both those countries engaging in actual hostilities, hi the mean 
time, Paris became a scene of dreadful confusion : every day some 
new faction seemed to arise to batBe the attempts of those who 
had yet wisdom or temperance enough to prevent things coming to an 
extremity. The legislature was at the mercy of the Parisian clubs 
and of the mobs, too freely admitted into the galleries of the assem 
biy. The king was insulted in the grossest manner for having ven- 
tured to interpose his suspensive negative to the passing of two 
severe decrees; one against those who had emigrated, and the 
other against the clergy who declined taking the civic oath. IM. la 
Fayette, who had been appointed to take the command of the army, 
-wrote from his camp to admonish the national representatives to res- 
cue the country and the king from the tactions designs of the enrag- 
ed jacobins; but in vain; it served only to exasperate still more tiu 
anti-royalists, and to bring fresh troubles on the royal family. The 
design of the factiovis seems to have been, either to intimidate the king 
to a degree of abject submission, or to provoke him to act against the 
constitution in a manner that might render him liable to tlie ven- 
geance of the people. The march of the Prussian aimy, and a 
threatening manifesto issued by its commander, the duke ol" Kruns- 
wick, irritated the violent party into a frantic determination to abolish 
royalty. The king wtts supposed, or represented, to be contederatc 
with the enemy, and deeply engaged in a plot with his emigranl 
brothers and relatives, to counteract the revolution. 

6. A dreadful attack \vas made on the palace in the month of 
August, the particulars of which are too disgusting to dwell upon; 
but it completed the triumph of the demagogues ; tor in compellin-) 
the king's guards to act on their defiance, they had it in their pow*;! 
to charge the king himself with having made war upon his people. 
Nothing was now heard but the cry oP' liberty and equality." 'I'he 
" chief of the executive power," as they chose to denominate his maj- 
esty, was Ibrmally suspended irom his functions, and, under the .pre- 
tence of gitardianship, committed with his tjueen and family to the 
temple. 

7. The assembly appeared from this moment to be as much in 
the power of the taction as the king. The period has been too 
justly distinguished by the appropriate title of " the reign of terror." 
The execrable Robespierre was in reality at the head of affairs, and 
itvvould be impossible adequately to describe the. atrocities of lii- 
merciless career. It would exceed the limits of Ibis woi'k to en-.-! 
far into particulai details. La Fayette abandoned the army, it- 
unwilling to serve under such masters; his conduct has been ..r- 
raigned, as reflecting at once upon his loyalty, his patriotism, and 
his courage ; it was thought that with the army so much at hi> 
disposal as it seemed to be, had his principles been such as he pre- 
tended, he would have marched back to Paris, and saved his coun 
try and his king from the ruiii with which they were threatened- 
In the meanwhile the combined troops of Austria and Prussia wore 
approaching the frontiers; diiferences sljbsisted in the army ; nor 
was general Dumourier, who had succeeded to the command on 
the retirement of La Fayette, generally confided in, either by tlie 



320 MODEIirv iilSTORY. 

army or the faction. To lessen the numbei' of aristocrats, nriuny 
suspected of belonging to that pr.rty were hurried to prison, where, 
without scruple, and with such barbarity as is not to be paralleled 
in the records of history, they A\'crG almost all assassinated, to the 
amount, as it has been estimated, of not less than five thousand. 
This happening on the second of September, all ivho were con- 
cerned in it, as principals or abettors, were denominated Septem- 
b)-izers. 

8. These were but preludes to a catastrophe, if possible, still 
more shocking; a murder perpetrated with a studied deliberation, 
and with all the mockery of Ieg;d forms and ceremonies. However 
hastened by the hostile approach of the confederate powers, and 
the injudicious threats they threw out in case any -violence shoul(l 
be offered to the king's person, nothing could possibly excuse the 
perversion of justice, and gross inhumanity ^vhlch marked the trials 
of the king and qucea; nothing exceed the melancholy circumstan- 
ces of their imprisonment and execution! On the 11th of Decern 
her, 1,792, the king appeared before the convention, to hear the 
charges preferred against him. " You are accused," said the 
president, " by the French nation, of having committed a multitude 
of crimes, ibr the purpose of re-establiiiuug your tyranny by the 
destruction of liberty." He then entered into a few particulars. 
The king, with great dignity, replied, "No existing laws prohibit- 
f>d me fro-ii doing as I did ; Thad no wish to injure my subjects, no 
intention of shedding their blood." Further accusations were 
pressed upon him, from which he defended himself with the samo 
tirmness and simplicity of language, the same coolness and intre- 
pidity of mind. He declared boldly, that his conscience ful.y ac- 
quitted him of the things laid to his ciiarge, and appealed to the 
whole course of his boliaviour and carriage towards them as king, 
to exonerate himself from the horrid imputatioi^ of having been 
eager and ready to shed the blood of his people. This charge, 4n- 
deed, rested solely on the events of the 10th of August, when the 
rabble broke into the palace of the Tuilleries, and not only men- 
aced the lives of the king and his family, but are allo^^ed to have 
begun the sanguinary part of the conflict, by the murder of live of 
his Siviss guards. It was not till after this event that the rest of 
these failhful adherents tired upon the aggressors, and drew upon 
themselves the vengeance that terminated so fatally, for they were 
all destroyed. 

9. It having been resolved that the judgment and decision of the 
case should i-est with the national representatives, the convention 
met on the 15th of January, 1,793, to discuss the question of the 
king's guilt, upon the charges so loosely and so maliciously brought 
against him, when it appeared that only thirty-seven were disposed 
to think favoui'ably of his conduct. Six hundred and eighty-three 
members, with little or no hesitation, some, indeed, with the most 
cruel eagerness and exultation, pronounced him guilty. An attempt 
was made to procure a reference of this matter to the people ; but 
it was over-ruled by a majority of one hundred and thirty-nine. 

10. Having determined the question of his guilt, that of his pun- 
ishment became the next subject of discussion. It was proposed 
to decide between detention, banishment, and death. After a de- 
bate, in which the amiable monarch seemed to be regarded by many 
as despotism personitied, no less than three hundred and sixty-one, 
c«-) according to some accounts, three hundred and sixty -six members*, 



MODERN 1 lis TORY. 321 

voted peremptorily for death ; and on a further question, whether 
the execution of the sentence should be suspended or take place 
immediately, the votes for the latter amounted to three hundred and 
eighty against three hundred and ten. The king was to be informed 
of the result of their proceedings, and to suffer death in twenty -four 
hours afterwards. The advocates for the king were allowed to 
address the assembly, and to move an appeal to the people, but with- 
out effect. On the motion of Robespierre, the decree was pro- 
nounced irrevocable, and the king's defenders debarred from any 
further hearing. 

11. On the 21st of January his majesty, having previously taken 
leave of his family, and performed the services o'" devotion, \v;vs 
conveyed to tlie place of execution ; nothing couKi exceed the 
pious resignation with which he submitted to the cruel and unjust 
sentence which doomed him to death, and during his passage to the 
square of the revolution, where the guillotine was erected, he be- 
trayed no symptoms of tear or anger. On the scaffold, he manifest- 
ed a strong desire to address the crowd ; but the drums were made 
to sound louder, and he was rudely bidden to be silent ; in a moment 
after, his head was severed from his body, and shewn to the people 
as the head of a tyrant and a traitor! 

12. History, both public and private, has borne ample testimony 
to the falsehood of the charges brought against him ; every nation 
ii» Europe concurred in condemning the conduct of the French regi- 
cides ; and though, in exciting the resentment of fresh enemies, 
England and Spain particularly, it threatened the ruin of the new 
republic ; it appeared by no means to have satisfied the blood-thirsty 
vengeance of the rulins^ faction. The democratic, or republican 
party, had long been split into two divisions, and their opposition to 
each other seemed at this time to be at the height. Brissot, who 
headed the Girondists, (so called from the department of Gironde, 
which some of that side represented,) was still aUve ; Robespierre, 
Danton, and Marat, directed the movements of the opposite faction ; 
tor some time previously called the Mouihtain, from the elevated seats 
they occupied in the hali of the convention. 

13. It seemed now to be a question which of these turbulent par- 
ties should obtain the uHcendancy ; and a contest of this nature was 
not likely to be decided without a much larger effusion of blood, 
" The reign of terror"" still continued, and many more victims were 
preparing for the stroke of that fatal instrume'nt, which seemed to 
have been timely invented for the quick and incessant course of 
decapitation and destruction now adopted. Had any thing been capa- 
ble of producing domestic union, it might have been expected, from 
the formidable conteder;icy of foreign powers, armed against the na- 
tion ; for, in addition to Austria and Prussia, England, Spain, and 
Portugal, were at open war with France ; while a royalist party had 
arisen within its own conlines, of rather a formidable d'escription, 
considering the strength of the enemies without, and the distracted 
state of the government. 

II. Though such was the situation of the country, with regard 
to foreign powers, and royalists at home, the struggle between the 
Girondists and Robespierrean faction was carried on at Paris with 
the utmost violence and precipitation ; but the Mountain prevailed. 
Tiie leaders of the Brissotines were arrested and confined in the 
month of May. and on the 31st of October following, all executed- 
Brissot himselt' saw sixteen of his party guillotined before it came to 

41 



322 !\50DKR?N iiiSTOilY. 

his turn, and four were boheaded afrerward's Many of them were 
persons of considerable talents, and not destitute of private virtues, 
had they lived in less turbulent and trying times. 

15. Horrible as this execution must have been, one still more 
appalling had engaged the attention of the people, on the same spot, 
only tifteen days beibre. Loaded with insults, and deprived of every 
possible comtbrt or consolation, '• the widow of Lewis- Capet," as 
they chose to call their queen, (a princess of Austria, and daughter 
of the high-minded IMaria Theresa,) had not been suffered to enjoy 
one moment of repose from the day of the king's execution ; prep- 
arations were soon after made for her own trial, which, if possible, 
was conducted in a manner still more revolting to every feeling 
mind, than that which had been adopted in the case of her unhappy 
consort. Her guilt and her punishment were as soon decided upon; 
but even after this sad act of vengeance and injustice, shocking circum- 
stances of ignominy, degradation, and persecution took place, scarce- 
ly to be credited as the acts of any portion of a people at all advanced 
in civilization ; she was cast into a dungeon, and delivered into the 
custody of a gaoler seemingly selected on purpose to insult over 
her misfortunes, and aggravate her sufierings. On the dreadful day 
of her execution, she was conveyed to the scatibld in a common cart, 
with her hands tied behind her, amid the brutal shouts of an infuriat- 
ed populace. Thus died, in the 38th year of her age, the queen 
of one of the greatest kingdoms of tlie earth ; a princess, who, 
though not entirely free from, laults, had, till this fatal revolution, 
lived in all the splendour and luxury of a court, the marked object, 
not only of admiration and aduUttion, but of homage so profound, and, 
in some instances so servile and ensnaring^ as to palliate and account 
for all the errors of her short, but eventlul life. 



SECTION XIU. 

GREAT BRITAIN, FROM THE CONCLUSIOiS OF THE AMERI- 
CAN WAR, 1,783, TO THE PEACE OF AMIENS, 1,802. 

1. From the peace of Versailles, in 1,783, to the commencement 
of the year 1,793, Great Britain kept free from war, though not 
without some d'sputes with ibreign powers, and occasional calls 
upon her to interpose, as an ally or mediatrix, in the affairs of other 
states, Holland particularly. Soon after the termination of the 
American war, extraordinary changes in the administration took 
place. The ministry that negotiated the peace, at the head of 
which was the earl of Shelburne, was displaced, and succeeded by, 
what was called the coalition ministry, from the ^extraordinary cir- 
cumstance of Mr. Fox and lord North becoming joint secretaries of 
state, after an opposition peculiarly animated, and a positive declara- 
tion on the part of the former, that they differed so in principle as to 
render such an union for ever impracticable. 

2. The unpopularity of such an apparent dereliction of principle, 
as might reasonably be expected, rendered their continuance in 
power extremely precarious, and it was not long before their re- 
moval was effected, in consequence of a bill brought into parlia- 
ment by Mr. Fox. to regulate the affairs of India. The measure 
was judged to be fraught with danger to the constitution, by throw- 
ing too much power into the hands of a board of commissioners, to 



MOJ)EKiN HlS'l'ORY. 323 

he chosen by parliament, and though it passed the conimons, it was 
thrown out by the lords, and the ministry dismissed. 

3. Mr. Pitt, a younger son of the great lord Chatham, now came 
hito power, not in any subordinate >^itua(ion, but as premier, though 
at the early iige of twenty-four, and under circumstances peculiarly 
embarrassing, for he had long to contend against a majoi'ity of the 
house of commons, who threatened to stop the supplies, and effect 
his removal, as not enjoying the confidence of the people. This 
Ijeing judged too great an interference wilii the prerogative, and 
nany addresses being presented to the king to retain him in his 
service, the parliament was at length dissolved, and the issue turned 
Jut to be extremely lavourable to the choice of his majesty. 

4. The affairs of India manifestly requiring the interposition of 
government, Mr. Pitt, as soon as possible, procured a bill to that 
effect to be passed, according to which a board of control was to be 
appointed, not by pariiament, but by the crown. Though this in- 
creased in some degree the influence of the latter, it was judged to 
be far less hazardous than the proposal of Mr. Fox, which threatened 
to throw such a power into the hands of the minister and his friends, 
as might enable them to overawe the sovereign,* and render their 
removal almost impracticable. Mr. Pitt's bill, also, was found to in- 
terfere far less with the chartered rights of the company. It passed 
the lords, August 9, 1,784. 

5. Anoiher measure of considerable importance occupied the at- 
tention of the minister, during the year 1,786, which was expected 
to contribute greatly to the support of public credit. This was the 
establishment of a new sinking fund, by appropriating the annual 
sum of one million, to be invariably applied to the liquidation of the 
public debt. At a subsequent period, a sinking fund of still greater 
importance was established, by which every future loan was to 
carry with it its own sinking fund. This was proposed to the house 
in 1792, and readily adopted; it consisted in raising one per cent., 
besides the dividends upon every new stock created, to be applied 
by the commissioners for the reduction of the national debt, in the 
same manner, and under the same regulations as the original mil- 
lion.* 

6. From the commencement of the year 1,7B6, to the year 1,795, 
the attention of the British parliament was in a very extraordinary 
manner occupied with the charges brought against Mr. Hastings, 
governor-general of Bengal, in February, 1,786. Mr. Burke, whose 
mind had been long affected by the abuses practised in India, by 
the servants of the company, had appeared for some time to have 
fixed his eye upon Mr. Hastings, as a fit object of prosecution ; and 
he now moved for papers to substantiate the charges upon which 
'ne meant to impeach him. These charges being discussed in par- 
liament, during the session of 1,787, ancl referred to a committee, 
were confirmed by the house of commons, on the 9th of May, and 
the articles of impeachment exhibited to the house of lords, on the 
14th ; in consequence of n'hich Mr. Hastings was taken into cus- 
tody, but, on the motion of the lord chancellor, admitted to bail. 
The trial did not commence till February 15, 1,788, was continued 
not only through the whole of that parliament, though very sl/jwiy, 
but after much debate, determined to be pending on the commence^ 

* By this provision every loan would have its own fund, which woul(i 
operate at compound interest, and discharge the debt hi forty sevvri yean 
at the longest, from the time it was first incurred. 



3il4 MODEllN HISTORY. 

ment of the new parliament, 1,7G0, and not brought to a conchisioo 
till the month oi" April, 1,793. 

7. The question whether the impeachment abated on the dis- 
solution of parliament, appearing to involve a constitutional point 
of the highest importance, was discussed with singular attention, 
and a large display of legal and parliamentary knowledge. The 
l;iw members of both houses were never perhaps so divided in theii 
opinions; but the numerous precedents cited by Mr. Pitt seemed 
dearly to decide the question as follows : that though legislative 
processes are abated by prorogation or dissolution, it is not so with 
regard to judicial proc<?edings. It appc-ared to be a nice and curious 
question, and, as affecting the responsibility of ministers, its decision 
may be regai-ded as singularly important. 

8. Though in the course of the proceedings and prosecution of 
the various charsjes against Mr. Hastings, the eloquence of the 
managers exceeded all that could have been expected, yet nevei 
perhaps were so great talents employed with less sncciess; a trial of 
such seeming importance, so strangely protracted ; or a case of 
impeachment brought to an issue so little answerable to the expec- 
tations thai had been excited. It would be impossible to deny that, 
ilagrant and enormous abuses had been committed in India during 
the period in question, yet, the very length of the trial made it ap- 
pear to most persons in the light ol a persecution^ and that of an in- 
dividual to whom the company and the nation stood highly indebted 
(or many eminent services. As it ended in the acquittal of Mr. Has- 
tings, that gentleman may be presumed innocent. One good, how- 
ever, seems to have arisen from the investigation ; all succeeding 
governors-general have certainly been more circumspect and correct 
in their proceedings. 

9. In the course of the year 1,787, great disturbances having 
taken place in the united provinces, fomented by the French, and 
threatening the dissolution of the stad(holderate, an alliance was 
formed between the courts of St. James's and Berlin, to protect the 
rights of the prince of Orange, and resist the interference of the 
French. Preparations for war took place, but the Prussian army 
decided matters without any active co-operation on the part of 
Great Britain. The alarming state of things in France, appeared 
to deter the court of Versailles from rendering that assistance to 
the malecontents of Holland, which the latter had been taught to 
expect. 

10. Puring the session of 1,788, the attention of the house of 
commons was first called to the horrible circumstances attending 
the African slave-trade. It is quite surprising that such a trafhc 
shouUI have been so long earned on, without exciting the resent 
ment of every sensible mind, and disgusting the feelings of a civil- 
ized people ; unfortunately, when first noticed, it was found to be 
so deeply interwoven with the interests of our settlements in the 
West Indies, and to depend so much on foreign states, as well as 
our own, as to render it almost necessary to proceed slowly and 
cautiously, though it was impossible not to be horror-struck with 
the information laid betbi'e the house, particularly in regard to 
what was called the middle-passage, or transportation of the unhap- 
py Africans, from their native shores to the several islands. As it 
would be inconsistent with the, nature of such a work as the present, 
to enter into the detail of the proceedings upon this very interesting 
Bubjeet, which took up a long time, and can scarcely now be sftid ta 



MODER^T HISTOKY. 325 

be terminated, it may be sufhcient to note, that, after continual re- 
no uals of the subject in the two houses of parliament, yet. ovvins^ \o 
ni my uiitovvani circiim-^tances, it was not Ijiinlly al»)ii-heil liil ihe 
year 1,80G, nor has it oven yet Itcen in the power of any ministry, 
or any of our diplomatists, elieclnany to prevent tlie trade, as car- 
ried on by foreign states, though every person of humane (eelings 
mn<t devoutly wish and desire that it should be so. It must, how- 
ever, always redound to tiie credit of oin- own country, that the 
voice of compassion and mercy was ("n>l hi ;;;■ I nmnngsl us. and that 
(he lirst arm stretcheil ;,ut t'i''savo ;',;id in i -i ' (■ a large pnjportion 
of our lellow-crea'iures fidin tlio most alijecl >lavery and cruel tor 
tures that ever weic inilioioJ, ^\ as the arm of a Bi'ium 

11. The parliament 1»: ing prorogu^-d on the 1 1th of July, 1,7J8, 
to the 2Ulh of JNovenil:"!-, was compeUed to meet on the day ap- 
pointed, by circumstanc s nf a nii;st disirossing kind. His majesty, 
probably through e\( ess ol' iiu^iiiess, (o which he was known to 
devote more time an 1 labour tiian could well be consistent with 
his health, was seized with an illness which totally incapacitated 
him from discliarging the functioni^ of bis high and exalted sialion. 
It must appear strange, that by the br.vs and constitution of the 
realm, so little provision had been made lor a catastrophe by .no 
meaiis out of U.ie line of probability, that it liocam.' a question' into 
what hands the suspended executive had de\o;ved, and this ltd, as 
might be expected, to very uann and unporlant i!e!);ttes ia parlia- 
ment. Tiiough the pnnce of Wales, being of i'nil age, did not person- 
ally claim the regency as matter of right, his party did. The min- 
ister, Mr. Pitt, contended that it belonged to parliament to supply 
die deliciency ; and tliis question being stated, it was judged expe 
dient to debate it, ;i;..l - liL' it by votci The decnion upon this 
occasion was entirely in lavour of the power of paiiiament to 
appoint the regent, none t'uuibting, however, that the heir apparent 
was the tit object of such appointment. Other questions were 
agitated at the same time, oi equal importance ; particuhu'ly liovv 
far restrictions could be insposed by parliament, in regard to the ex- 
ercise of preiogatives, tlse u/'io/e of which were reasonably enough 
supposed to be esscntld .to the government cf the country. This 
question also u-as deciiled in fuour of the rninistf^r, wlio had proposed 
restiictions, wi'Ji an uncicrsi:uulJag, ho',ve\er, tliat tluy could only 
ap})ly to a lempo<-ary suspen,sion of t!ie kingly power. In this case 
also, the care of tli;; kingV; person was assigned not to ihe regent, but 
to the queen. One threat difiicultv remained after all the discussions 
upon the regency, h v^as doiruted how t!;e lord chancellor could 
be empowered to put t'i\e great seal to a commission for opening the 
sessions of parliament, s(,_as to restore " the ellicacy of legislation:" 
it was decided that he mi§,bt be directed to do it in the name of the 
king, by authority ol^ the two houses. 

12. Fortunately for the p-ib-'c, this tirst illness cf his niajesty 
was of so short duration, as to render unnecessary all the changes 
that had been contemplated. Early in the year l,7o9, tlie lord 
chancellor v/as able to announce to the houses of p.u'iiauent, the 
perfect recovery of the king. Nothing could exceed the transports 
oijoy with vviiich this intelligence was received througiiout the 
whole kingdom. A national thanksgiving was appointed, a.nd his 
majesty went himself in great state tf> &c. Paufs, to otu r up his 
grateful devotions on the event. The illuminations on the occasion 
v/ere so general, that it is probable, trom the accoimts given of 

Ee 



S26 MODERxN HiSTOilY. 

them, that sciucely a coti;!ge in the most remote pfirisi of the \s\.:n(] 
\v;t3 witijoui Jls show n) loyalty iind aiiecuuu. The app('aranr;e of 
lIic inelropoh?, in paitici)l;ir, was most extraordinary, and notwith- 
standing the immense concourse ot" people that continued almost the 
whole night in the street.'?, and the crowded throng of carriages and 
horsi^s, so strong a disposition was shown by nil ranks and desoi'iption.s 
of persons to conduct things peaceably, that fewer accidents occurred 
than wer« ever known beibre in similar cases. 

13. ll should be noted, as a matter of general history, that had 
not his !n:nesty recovered so opportunely, dillicuities of an extraor- 
dinary nature might have ensued, from the dilVcrent proceedings of 
the two legislatures of Great Bi-itain and Ireland. While in the 
ibrmer it was decided that the prince could not assume the regency, 
as matter of right, and that the parliament bad a power to impose 
restriclions, in Ireland, his right appeared to be acknowledged by 
the two houses agreeing to address him, to take upon him immediately 
tha government of that kingdom, during the king's incapacity, and 
with the usual powers of royalty. 

14. In the year 1,789, the proceedings in France began to occup- 
the attention of Europe, and of England in particular. A struggle lor 
freedom seemevl to be so congenial to the spirit of the people oi' liie 
latter country, that it is not to be wondered that the commencement 
of so extraortlinary a revolition should excite the strongest sensa- 
tions. Unfortiniately the abuses in the French government wore so 
m:iny, and some of them so entirely contrary to every principle of 
reason and equity, that it soon became apparent that nothing less 
than a railical change, and revolution of every existing institution 
and establishment, would satisfy the disturbed minds of that volatile 
people ; minds unhappily prepared not mt.'rely to resist oppression, 
but to throw off every restraint of religion and moraiity. Su':h an 
exnmple, theretbre, required to be^vatched and guarded against, in 
a country whose Cree constitution supplied its own means of refer 
m.ition in every case of necessity, and where tumultuary proceedings 
cojid only lead to ends the most fatal and deplorable. Mr. i'il« 
seemed aware of this, and though his measures of precaution weie 
supposed occasionally to press too hardly on the libertj of the sub- 
V:'ct, it must bo admitted that a very improper intercourse was at 
times carried on between the several popular associa'ions in Eng'aml 
and lr(d;nid, and the national assembly of" France. The objecf of 
the bitter, in its replies to the addresses presented 'o it, being, accord- 
ing to all reasonable interpretation of the terms used, to invite and 
encourage the discontented of all countries to 'iillow their example, 
nhich was every day becoming more 'Violent and anarcbic;:!, 
liiis was not all; emi.ssaries were employed to propagate theii 
pr;ncif)les in other countries, many of whom came to England, and 
m.'t with an encouragement not to be overlooked by a government 
pi'operly sensible ot tiie dangers to be incurred by any adoption of 
sich senlimcnts raid principles, in a country so very difierenlly silu- 
aled from that of France, iilngland had long ago done for herself 
what France was now attempting: and though no such clianges and 
re\o!utions can be expected to lizke place without some violence, 
yet England had passed through this ordeal, and accomplished her 
point a whole century before France began to assert her liberties. 
It was iittle less than an insu'l to every true Englishman, therefore, 
to aV.empt to sUr h-im > ■) to such violent proceedings as had ah'eady 
bean x-":Hitie,- j.^--, • ' ' • Kinclioned by the French revolutionists; but 



MODFJIN niSTOKY. 

(hat «iich attempts wpre making, cr>n\(] not but be too obvlouo. Oh 
the Unh of Noveiul>tir, 1,792, the nation;il assembly pa^setl a decree, 
thai tney \voulil grant fraternity and assistance to all who might wish 
to recover their liberty. This was two months after they liacl pro- 
claimed the eternal aboliiion of royalty, and imprisoned the king: after 
they had declared hereditary nohiiity to be incompatible wiin a bee 
state ; and thns, by implication, declared that Englan.i and mo^t jf 
the other states of Europe were not free. It wasal'lerwards proved» 
by their own acknowledgment, that before any declaration of Avar, 
more tlian a million sterling had been sent to England from the 
national treasnry of France, for purposes strictly revolutionary, 
No country was free from these political <listurbers ; even general 
Washiiigton, as president of the United States of .'\merica, was 
obliged to publish letters patent, to withdraw his contitenance from 
the accredited French ministers in that country, who had grossly 
insidted him as head of the executive government. 

1.x In the year 1,790, an unpleasant dispute arose between the 
courts of St. James's and Madrid, which had nearly involved the 
two countries in a war. It related to a settlement" on the north- 
western coast of America, which had been attempted by sonie sub- 
j:^cts of Great Britain, at Nootka Sound, for the carrying on a fur 
trade with China. The Spaniards, conceiving this to be an invasion 
of tlieir r'lghts, under a cl aim to these distant I'egions the most ex- 
travagant and absurd, with great precipitation attacked the English 
settled there, took the ("ort which had Iteen erectcil with the consent 
of the Indians, and seized upon the vessels. It was not possible to 
pass over so great an omi'age ; but by the vigorous and timely prep- 
aratiorrs made to procure reparation, and the little hope of assist- 
ance lo be derived from France, in case thi;:gs should come to ex- 
tremities, the Spanish coui-t was brouglit to teinis bcibre the expira- 
tion of the year; and not only every point in dispute ceded to the 
English, but m my advanl.iges granted wilh regard lo the navigation 
of the Pacilic ocean. 

16. In liie course of the same year, the British court interfered 
successfully to restore };eace between Austria and Turkey, and 
»vas fnrtiier instrumental, though not without some hindrances, in 
reducing the revolted Netherlands to the dominion and authority 
of the tbrmer power. Her attempts to mediate between Russia 
an I the Porte, were by no means so successful, and had nearly, in- 
ileed, involved the nation in war, lor an object of very lillle im- 
pofi;iii'-e in the eyes of the pnlilic at large, though the^ minister 
seemed to think olherwise. In coiHcnjience, however, of the op- 
pnsiiion he met wilh, h? was in.luccd'to torego the idan he had in 
view, of preventing Kussia g'lting possession of the town of Ocza 
kcr.v, and a peace was conciutled with that power at Vassi, Januar}", 
1,792. 

17. Towards the close ol the same year, after the king ot France 
and his ^'...iily were in a state of confinement, many attempts were 
made ny the national assem!)ly to ascertain the views of England 
with regard to the confederacy formed against hei-, and the question 
of pf ace or war seemed nearly bi'oughl to an issue, befoie the horrible 
ex 'cntion of the king, in the month of January, l,79;i. That event 
being foii-'iwed by the dismissal of the Frencli minister at London, 
aj-t-jared so totally to dissolve all friendly communications between 
the two countries, as to induce the French government, by a decree 
c. ihe assembly February 3, 1,793, to declare war against the kins: 



328 MODER^^ HISTORY. 

of Great Britain and the stadthMer of Holland ; in which decree, 
tliere was evidently .111 iUtcn.pt in the very wording of it to sepiiratc 
the people of the two countries iVuni their respective sovereign*. 

lo. iiy tiiis time, indeed, the encroaching (h*position oC tne 
French revolnlionists was nianilested in their annexation of Savoy 
to France forever, as soon as they had gained any advantages over 
it; and in their conduct in llie Netherlands, l)y declaring the navi- 
gation of the Scheld free, contrary to all subsisting treaties with 
tlic Dutch. The same spii'it was apparent ii. their refusal to ex- 
empt Alsace and Lorraine iVom the operation of the decrees for the 
abolition of feudal rigiits, and in their foi-cible seizure of Avignon 
and the comtat Venaissin, which had belonged to the Roman see 
for many centuries. It is true, the indiscreet manifestoes of the 
cunibined armies were sufhcient to_ slinndate a people, already in 
a higii degree of irriialion, to acts of severe reprisal, in all cases of 
success; but it ^vas very manliest that they had already violated 
liieir own piinciple of noi acting on a system of aggrandizement, 
of which they made such boast at the beginning of the revolution. 
Their glaring abandonment of this principle, andthe injury done to 
the Dutch by opening the Scheld, were the ostensible groiinds of 
the war on the part of England. The declaration of France, in 
some degree, saved the minislcsr from the responsibility of having 
actually commenced hostilities, however, in the opinion of opposi- 
tion, he might he said to have provoked them; but it should still be 
observed, that there was a treaty subsisting between the two countries^ 
aini-ming that the recal or disnii'-sion of public ministers should be 
considered tantamount to a declaration of Nvar. If so, and the treaty 
was not invalidated by the change of things at Paris, as many asserted, 
the lirst declaration of war proceeded tiom the English government, 
who, on the suspension of the kingly authority, had recalled lord 
Gower from Paris, (many other courts, however, having done the 
same,) and on the death of the king, abruptly dismissed the French 
minister, M. Chauvelin, from England. 

19. The exact objects of the hostile interference of England 
were never formally explained in ))Hrli:iment, though in the king's 
tleclaration they were regarded as too notorious; every thing con- 
duced to render it apparent, that they had in view as much to op- 
})ose the propagation of anarchical jirinciples, as the violence of 
territorial aggressions; that previously to the declaration of war 
on either part, the English goverimient had shown a disposition not 
to interl'ere with the internal aflairs of France, seems manifest Irom 
many circumstances. 

20. It is not necessary to enter into the details of the war that 
took place after England joined the confederacy. The extraor- 
dinary progress and success of the French appertains to the history 
of thai country, and may therefore be found elsewhere. Though 
tiie British troops fought with their accu-stomed bravery, and ob- 
tained in their hrst c.mipaign some signal ailvantages, yet, owing 
hi some measure to tlie want of harmony and cordhiiity between 
the confeden'les, but still more to the overwhelming Ibrce of 
France, now risen en masse, they ultimately met with great reverses, 
and were compelled (o abandon the country they had undertaken to 
del'end ; but though unsuccessful by land, on the ocean Englaiid 
maintained her wonted superiority. I\lany of the French \\ est In- 
dia i-kmds tell into her power in the summer of 1,794, and a most 
decisive victory was gained by lord Howe, over the Brest Aeet, oo 



MODERN HISTORY. 329 

the Ist oi June. The ishinil of Corsica also was sijhdned, and hy 
the aati-galiican party, wilh the celehiated Paschal Paoli at Ihoir 
heail, erected into a monarchy, the kingly po^ver and prern«;ative^ 
beir.t? freely conterred on hi:* majesty George 111. In tlie moiiili ol' 
October, however, 1,796, the French party recovered the ascenden- 
cy, and the island being evacuated by the English, was re-annexeo 
to France. 

21. At the conclusion of the year 1,794, though France had on 
the continent made surprising acquisitions, the spirits of the Enj;ii<ii 
were far from being shaken, and the utmost eflibrts were cbeerfiilly 
made lor continuing the contest on the ocean; and in all the colonies 
of the enerny, the advantages wereclearlv on the «ide ol the Hiitis!\" 
during the years 1,793, 1,790, and 1,797, when negotiations i'oi 
peace took place, but without being brought to any fiivourahle i-^sue 
At the close of 1,797, his majesty, attended by the two nou-es of 
parliament, and tlie great officers of state, went to St. PanPs, to oisl^i 
up a public and national thanksgiving for the naval victories obtnie.-d 
in all parts of the ivorld ; upon which occasion, many tlags and 
colours taken from the French, Spaniards, and Dutch, were borne in 
•■olemn pomp to the cathedral, and deposited on the altar. Nv-Uiihii; 
could exceed the enthusiasm with whicli the British nation ai ihis 
period appeared disposed to resist the threats of the enemy. '1' e 
national nulilia having offered to transfer their services to Ireland, 
to suppress a rebellion which had broken out there, volunteer coif);- 
were formed in all parts of the kingdom to supply their place, and 
tlie people were readily induced to submit to a measure of finance, 
then first adopted, namely, of raising, by a triple assessment, (ai'ier 
wards converted into an income and property tax,) a large propur 
tion of the supplies wanted for carrying on tlie war zi-itldn the ycur i 
sc much, in short, of the loan, as should exceed the sum dischart^'-d 
by the operation of the sinking fund, so that no addition should i)e 
male to the permanent debt. 

22. In the year 1,798, the affairs of Ireland occasioned great < if- 
ficulties. A regularly organized rebellion, the leaders of ul. eh 
were in constant communication .with the enemy, threatenr-i to- 
tally to dissolve the connexion suhsisting between that cniiMiry 
and (ireat Britain, and to invite thi aid and co-operation of France, 
at the manifest hazard of rendering Ireland a dependency of the 
latter power, as had already been the case with Savoy, Beljriiim, 
liOmhardy, and Venice. Ireland had Iv.it lately obtained concesrions 
from Engiand of no inconsiderable importance, a free trade, and tlic 
recognition of hei political independence ; but the catholics were dis- 
satisfied with the national representation, to the defects in wbii li 
they attributed the confmuance of the penal statutes still diriTicd 
against them. The FrencW revolution led to the formalion of tlie 
society of United Irishmen, in 1,791, which had rnauy reforms and 
chai\o;es in view, though short perhaps of an entire revolution. In 
1,795, iVom representations made to it of the oppressed st;ite of lie- 
land, the French government regularly proffered its assi-^tance to 
subvert the monarchy, and separate Ireland from Britain. F(uiun;ite 
ly tiie plans of the traitors were timely discovered, and though it 
was not possible to prevent a recourse to arms, which adlicted many 
pans of the kingdom between April and October, yei the principal 
ringle-aders were for the most part seized, executed, or compelh^d to 
fly, and under the able government of lord Cornwallis, tninq-jillitv 

Ee2 42 ■ 



330 MODERN HISTORY. 

jvas happily restored, with less ditficulty and damage than had been 
( xpecled. 

23. The situation of affaifs in Ireland during 1,798, led in the fol- 
lowing year to the project of an union betvvcen the two countries, 
wliich Mr. Pitt submitted to the British parliament in the form of a 
message froin the king, January 22, 1,799. The Irish legislature 
having been declared independent in 1,782, it wis obvious that no 
such measure could be carried into execution without the free con- 
sent an I acquiescence of the Irish parliament. Many circum.si;m- 
ces seemed to conduce to render the pro-posed union desirable and 
benelicial to both nations, and at this particular moment, to recon- 
cile most people to it. The catholics of Ireland had become dis- 
satislied with the parliament of that counliy, while the protestants, 
\vho were greatly outnumbcired by the catholics, though Ihey pos- 
sessed four tifliis of the property of the kingdom, had good reason 
to suppose their interests and ascendency would be best secured 
In one uiule-d and imperial parliament, "than in a distinct legisia- 
liire, in a country where tiie catholics had already obtained' tbeir 
elective franchise, and composed the bulk of the population. They 
inigKt also reasonal)ly apprehend the consequences of the overtures 
th.il had lieen made to I'lance, and the alarming progress oi' revolu- 
tionary i^iincipies. In the case ol" the regency, the dangers incident 
to two distinct legislatures, had been rendered sulKciently apparent, 
On all these accounts, though the measure was at hrst very coldly 
entertained, and even rejected by the Irish house of commons ; the 
minister was greatly encouraged to proceed, by the strong support 
he received in both countries, 'rom persons oi' all ranks and parlies. 
A series of resolutions was proposed (o the house, to be laid beibre 
Ids majesty, recommendatory of the proposed union, which, al'ter 
some opposition, was sent to a committee by a majority of 14ti to 
IT). In the loi'ds, the address passed without a division ; a pix)test, 
i)owever, being entered on the books, signed by three lords, Hol- 
land, Thanet, and King. 

24. The last year of the eighteenth century was distinguished 
by the most important events in India, where the English, uiuier the 
government of tlie earl of Mornington, totally deleated the most 
insidious, and powerful enemy, (he forces in" that remote country 
ever had to contend with ; Tippoo Saib, the sultan of Mysore, son 
of the celebrated Hyder Ally khan, who had usurped tliose domin- 
ions in 1,761. In the years 1,784, and 1,792, treaties of peace had 
been concluded between the Lultan and the t'^nglish, which, however* 
had had \ery iittie elfect on the lormer, who Ixid shown himself 
constantly attached to the French interests ; and having been com- 
pelled by the hist treaty to cede one haif of his dominions to the 
conquerors, and lO deliver two of his sons as hostages into the hands 
af lortl Cornwaliig, ihe governor-general, appears to have hari)ourGd 
^le most inveterate hatred against the English from that moment, 
and to have meditated, by ihe aid of the French, and certain ol the 
native powers, nothing less than their total extirpation. l( would be 
impossihie, perhaps, to rind in history stronger instances of duplicity 
and treachery, than were practised by this ce4ebrateil potentate 
against the liritish interests, during the years 1,797 and 1,798, ii3 
the spring of the latter of which, lord Mornington arrived in liulia. 
With the French directory, with the French colonial government in 
Mainiiius, with the king of Candahar, with the courts of Foonah 

nd Hyderabad with Buonaparte in Egypt, and even with the Otto- 



MODERN HLSTORV. SSI 

m-MJ t^orte, at the same time, the wily sultan managed to carry on 
secret negoliations, amidst tiie strongest piulessions of amity and 
attacliinerit towards the English government. It has been conjectur- 
ed, that h;id he obtained effectual aid trom the French, in extirpating 
the Enghsh, he would as willingly have turned against his European 
abettors; the purport ot" all his negotiations with the native powers, 
being to stir them up to a general combination against the injideh 
and enemies of the prophet^ without any distinction of tlie two 
nations. 

25. By the extreme vigilance and cautious proceedings of the 
new governor-general, the intrigues of the sultan, notwithstanding 
his reitenitdtl assurances of fidelity, were so amply discovered and 
exposed, as to vindicate, in the fullest manner, the declaration of 
war which took place in February, 1,799, and which was speedily 
folloived up by the most vigorous proceedings on the part of the 
army, tenninr.ting in the capture of Seringnpatam, the capital ot 
the Mysorean dominions. May 4, and the death of the sultan, whose 
body was found, after tiie action, covered with lieaps of dead, his 
immense territories were divided amongst the allied powers^ the 
remains of his family provided for in the Carnatic, and a boy oi fi'S 
years old, the surviving representative of the Hindoo dynasty, r'^tor- 
ed to tiie throne of his ancestors. 

2(3. In tl»e tirsi year of the new century, the projected' "'"^», and 
incorporation of the two legislatures and kingdoms of^^^^at Britain 
and Ireland, was brought to a conclusion. Doubt- ^ver.e expressed 
in the Irish hou^e of commons, and supnorted t-/ g^eat strengrth of 
aigument, whether, as a delegated body, a^^ without a fresh ap- 
peal to their constituents, they could forr-fy consent to their own 
annihilation. Strong suspicions also w-fe thrown out, that the plan 
had no other object in view than tb-^ ^^ reco\ering to England the 
domination she had surrendered i- i:'?82, when the mdependency or 
the Irish legislature had beep iuHj, and, ar, it was alleged, finally 
acknowledged and establist<^ti; but these objections were over- 
ruled. It was no surrencLf^ it was urged, ot their legislative rights, 
to consent to^ke incon^™ted with the parliament ot Great Britain, 
but a consolidation ^t" them ; and their consent would acquire a 
character from *''G reguhctions of 1,782, highly honourable to the 
nation" she c^'^ "f^"' tre^it as an independent state, and upon a 
footiu'^' of -quality, instead of being in any respect compelled, as 
,jji„(jt*{y,ieJwisF li-ave been fhe cftse, to an union of subjection. 
Earlv »■" '5i'- yeai 1,800, the assent of the two houses of parliament, 
in .'rclaiid, was signified in addresses to his majesty, transmitted 
/trough th;; lord lieutenant, which being submitted to the British 
parliament, after much discussion and debate on the bill in gen- 
er.ii, as well as its several provisions, the union of the two king, 
doms was l;nally arranged to take place from the first of January, 
1,801. 

27. The act of incorporation contained eight articles : the first 
three decreed the union of the two kingdoms, the maintenance of 
the protestant succession, and consolidation of the parliament. By 
the fourili, it was settled that four prelates should sit alternately itt 
each session, and twenty-eight lay peers be elected for life, while 
two menjbers for each county, (thirty-two in all) and thirty-six citi- 
zens and burgesses, should represent the commons. The fifth article 
united the churches of England and Ireland ; the sixth and seventh 
l)rovided for the commercial and financial arrangements of the two 



338 MODERN HISTORY. 

countries, and tho eighth for the maintenance of laws then in force, 
ami coittimianre of (he courts of jiKiicuUiiv. 

iiJfi. On the hist of January, LtiUl. a royai (leclaralinn uas issned. 
regulating the slyle and titifs appcrlaining lo the inipei-jal (■.ro\\n of 
Great IhUaii; and Ireland, witli the arms, llags, and ensij;ns thereof. 
In these arrangements, the opportunity n;is jiulicion^iv 'aken of' 
laying aside the title of king oi' France, and the French arms; the 
tilio in English was confined to Great Britain and Ireland; in Latin, 
" f-iniouHUirnm 7iex,-' and tiie quartering of the '•'•Jimrs de ^w,"" omit- 
ted in the blazonry. 

2i>. A iresh revolution in the government of France, about this 
time, having thrown the executive power, in a great measure, 
hito tlie hands of a supreme magistrate, the tirst consul, and over- 
tures ior peace Having been n::n\e by Buonaparte in that capacity, 
much liiscussion upon the sulject took place between the ministers 
of the two countries, but without elltct. The Austrians having 
sustained a defeat in Italy, had solicited and obtained a suspension of 
hostilities, and entered upon some negotiations for peace, to v\hich 
England was invited to become a party, upon consenting to a naval 
i^'-misticp, but her maritime power stood so high, that wiiile Malta 
coi.*jnued subject to France, and the French army unsubdued in 
t'gyP'^r she could not reasonably be expected to forego such advan- 
tages, ancto place lierself upon a footing with her continental ally, 
whose situar.",n was so ditferent. Her determination to continue the 
war, was soon Allowed by the surrender of Malta, on the 5th of Sep- 
tember, 1,800, an<ii,i the"course of the next year, the French trorps 
were compelled hna^.^ to abandon Egypt; thus terminating an ex 
pedition, in a great degUo nrvsterious, but which, no doubt, uiight 
have led to the disturbance .four power in India, had it not been lor 
the interruption it met with ohifg ^ay thitiier, and the overthrow of 
lippoo baiD. 

50. In the course of the year ],8u^, the enemies of England were 
greatly increased by the revival amo..yjit the northern powers, of 
the armed neutrality, orign)aily devisen ,,^1 adopted in 1,780. As 
this dispute involved a very curious point ^f international law it 
would have been well, if it could have been i,rought to such'an 
issue as might have settled the question lor evei. [„jt after much 
negotiation, and some very unpleasant conihcts at set (particularly 
with the L)anes,) seizures and embargoes, the mattei terminated 
rather in an uncertain compromise, than any positive ai'.jju^tment. 
The right of search by belligerents, however inconvenient t> neu- 
trals, seemed to have been acknowledged ior many centuries, .-^ a 
principle of maritime law; upon the system of the armed neutralil>,, 
it was contended that ships under convoy shonlii pass free, the liag 
of the neutral power being snfhcient pledge and security that the 
cargoes were not contraband of wj-.r. The claim in this case being 
eviilently directed against England, then, and at all times mistress 
of the sea, rendered it a point of extreme importance; one which 
she could not surrender without a contest, or armed negotiation ; 
otherwise, and if it had not been decidedly in favour of her opi^o- 
nents, the connttHiance given *o the new system by so many states of 
Europe, Russia, Denmark, Sweuen, Prussia, Naples, France, Spain, 
Holland, Austria, Portugal, Venice, and Tuscany, (for by some steps 
or other they all seemed disposed to adopt the si^iit of it,) might have 
been expected to amount to a formal recognition of its principle, as 
a proper law of oatious j the dispute, however, upon this occasion^ 



MODERN HISTORY. 333. 

was settled at Petersburg, by negotiation, after the accession of the 
emperor Alexander, and attended with concessions on the part of the 
Baltic pouers, of singular iinportanco, thougli less comp'ele than 
thej' might have been, owing to the counter cor.cessions of Britain. 
Thus, though it was decided that enemy's pro})erty embarked on 
boiird neutral slups, should be liable to conliscation, and that the 
right of searching merchant ships, even under convoy of a ship of 
war, should be recognized, yet, it was at the same time determined 
that arms and ammunition only should be considered as contraband, 
and that the right of searching merchant ships under convoy shouhl 
appertain exclusively to vessels belonging to the royal navy. If not 
entirely decisive, however, the stipulations of this celebrated con-, 
vention highly deserve to be looked up to as a proper standard of. 
the rights of neutrahty. 

31. During the contest that arose with England, out of this con- 
federacy of the nothern powers, tne king of Frusshi, one of the con-' 
tr;icting parties, saw tit to take possession of the king of Great Brit- 
ain's electoral states of Hanover, but on the change of afl'airs in 
Russia, was speedily induced to resLore them. 

32. By the treaty of peace concluded at Luneville, between the 
emperor of Germany and France, February 9, 1801, Enerlaod was 
left without an ally, and a change oi' ministry having taken place 
about the same thne, may be said to havo haa the tbundation for 
more serious negotiations tor pp:>cc, on the part of England and 
France, than had liitli^iiio taken place since the commencement of 
the revolution. Nothing, however, seemed to hasten it so mujh 
as the defeat of the French army in Egypt, and the settlement of 
the differences between England and the Baltic powers, which 
enabled her to negotiate with more advantage, and greatly lower- 
ed the spirit of the i^'rench government. Preliminaries were signed 
on the tiist of October, l,tJUl, and a detinilive treaty concluded at 
Amiens, between Great Britain and the French republic, Spain and 
Holh'rtdi on the 25th of March, 1,302. By this treaty, England 
pfiiained Ceylon from the Dutch, and Trinidad from tne Spaniards, 
relinquishing all her other conquests ; Malta being given back to 
the knighls of St. John of Jerusalem, under the guarantee of the 
principal powers of Europe. 



SECTION XIV. 

FRANCE, FROM THE DEATH OF THE KING AND QUEEN, 
AND OVERTHROW OF THE GIRONDIST OR BRISSOTINE 
PARTY, 1,'J93, TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DIREC- 
TORY, 1,795. 

I. Thk situation of France, towards the close of the year 1,793, 
was deplorable in the extreme. It lay at the mercy of a fjictiori 
not merely blood-thirsty, but which nothing but blooil would satis- 
fy. The jacobins, or Robespierrean party, determined to root out 
every li.ing that could, by the remotest implication, be denounced 
as adverse to their plans, procured a decree to be passed, exceed- 
ing every thing that can be conceived in atrocity. Such was the 
oi sur les suspects.^'' passed in September, by which their agents 



ing 



334 MODERN IIISTOKY. 

in all parts of the ronntry were empowered to arrest, imprison, 
anfl thereljy doom to destruction, wfioinsoever •.?uspici(m in iinx 
manner attached to. not merely as principals, but as connected witti 
principals, however unavoiJably, naturally, or accidentally. One 
article alone will explain the rest The tbllowing are the persons 
dnnoanced in the 5th : — All of the ancient class of" nobihly ; all hus- 
bands, wiyes, fathers, mothers, sons, or daughters, brothers, sisters, 
or agents of emigrants, who shall not have constantly manit'ested 
an aitachinent \.o Xhi^ rrcobdion. The queen, the twtnty-two victims 
cf the Girondist parly, and general Custnie, may be considered as 
among the earliest and most distinguished i)ersniis that tell under 
the i>ower of this horrible faction. The due d'Oi leans, though not 
belonging to the (lirondist party, was denounced by Robespierre 
himself, as connected with thtm, and publicly executed on the 6th 
of November; but his life and conduct, both public and private, had 
been such, that he fell totally ui. regretted. It would be vain to 
attempt to relate the many dreadful events which marked this bloody 
period, it is to be hoped history will never again have to record 
sue!) complicated cruelties and r.iiseries, such premeditated murdere, 
surb sitndied torments, mental and b^jdily. 

2. Or. liw 17th of Noveniber, of this memorable yeai, the cath- 
olic religion, ^ai th,> instance of an orclibislioji of Fans^ Go!)et !) 
was pubficiy al>inred l>y il.o convention, and decrees p:..-t, amidst 
the most tumultuous acclamations, for . ..( -jtiinting a religion of reason 
in its room. The chin-ciies were quickly despoiled of tl^oir nrnaments, 
the altars destroyed, civic feasts instituted instead of religious le.-ls- 
vais, and Liberty^ Kqmilily. &,c. consecrated as objects ol worship. 
Tl-.ese revolutionary and anti-catboiic decrees 'were moreover 
ordored to be translated into Italian^ on purpose that they might be 
transmitted in that most inlelligibie, and iherelore most otlensive 
shfipe, to the pojie. The calendar imderwent also a correction. A 
nev»' republican ii)rm and era being adoptrd and establisheil, to com- 
mence from the '■2'id ol September, XJ^id'-Z^ the day on uhieh tin- na- 
tional convention began its sittings, and royally \vas aboii>!ied. 'i'lit 
year was di\ided into t.velve parts, of thirty days eacli, v!i>iiuguished 
acfordiug to llie prevalent .seasons, Vtndcnmirc^ Septemb.^r and Oc- 
tober ; /im//«/i>e, October and November : Frimaire^ Nuvemiier and 
nece.nber; jV'reose, December and January; Fliiviosp, .lanuary and 
i''elii'uarv ; l^enlose^ l''ebru;'ry and March ; Gcnninal^ iMarcli and 
."kpril ; Florr(n\ April and Mav ; Frairial., May and .lune; Alcssulor. 
June and July; Thcniiidor, July and August; Fructulor, August and 
September. The S.ibbath was ai)olislied, and live complinientary 
days adiled, all commemorative of the involution. ICach month was 
divided into three decades, and a respite Irom labour allowed on 
every tenth day. 

:l'lt was not pas'^ible to suppose that those who ruled during 
thi-; dark '"'' reign ■>/ terror^'' could long be suffered to retain their 
power and station in the republic. I'oriunntely for the good ol 
human society, their very ciimes I'endered them jealous and sus- 
picions of eacii other, so thai bel'ore many months had passed, 
ilier ttie execulion of the queen an<l the thi>solines, the earlh was 
fill of such monslers, jiroscribed and driven to the scalloi.i liy their 
own frieihb and associates in wickedues.-j; l(nl)es!.ierre, trem'wiion* 
tile fiction chieliy took its denomination, being'at length accused, 
condemned, and execited, ia the course of a tew hours in the month 
of July, 1,794, to the satisfaction of the whole civilized world- Be- 



MODERN lllSTOKY. 335 

fore this gront day ot retribution, however, one moie victim of roy- 
ally \V!S brought to the sciiflolil, wiiose sole (jiTcnce must Iv.ivo been 
the heroic Jisj)iiiy slie ii;i(i miide, in Ik-i' ooiislaut aitendiuice upon 
Ihi; kiii.J, her brollier, aiul iii- mo-l unhappy laiiiiiy, ol' every anha- 
hle virtue that could adorn a woman. Tho princess Elizabetii, who 
liad couliuued in tiie temple, \-. ill: llio two ciiildrer oi" liie uuhappy 
Le»vis XV'l., from the period oi" his e\'ecutioii, was brougiit l)e(i.i'e 
tlje revolutionary tribunal, accused of '•• accompanying tlie late Idnt; 
A'hen he attempted liis e>cap;: ;"" ot' having " isltendcd npon and :vA- 
iiiiaislered heip to tlie ^vollnded in the conliict vvitii the guards;"" 
and of '"'iiaving encouraged her ini'anl nepiiew, l,eius \Vi!., in en- 
tertain hopes ot' ascending the tiirswu' oi" liis fatiier;" and upon Uae 
charges sentenced to die, Maj lU, 1,7U1, and executed without pity 
or remorse. 

'I. It vv;i«i Jurmg the year 1,793, tliat Napoleon Buonaparte, a na 
tive of Corsica, had hrst an oppori unity of ilistinguisliing himself in 
tl»e French army, being empioyod in the direction of the arlillei-v a1 
tlie siege of Toulon, wliich had I'alli'n for a sliort time into the liatuis 
of (lie h^nglish. Hith'-'rto the war against tho powers in opposition 
to !•' ranee, had been carried on in a most d.^'sullory and extraordinary 
manner, with more success certainly on tlie part ul' the Frencn than 
could have been expected, fnjm tlie uxlraurdinary condilion and cii- 
cumslances of their arniii's, and the slrangi' slate ot' respon.^itiiiilv in 
whicii tlieir commanders were placed hy their ruiei's at lionie. 
•Some of their generals were compelled to desert, many were pro 
scribed, and m.uiy, al'ier displaying the utmost \ aiour in tlie lielu, 
were actually brought to the scalfoid. Neverthele'^-, the ir~p-iise 
given to the revolutionary army, by tlie circuni^laiices of lir.dr c<inn- 
try, aided by mistakes and jealousies on the i>ari of their opponents, 
tnabled it to combat eftl'clually against much better organized 
troops, and to resi>t the attacks that were made upon it in ail quar- 
ters; tor in addition to tlie Austriin-J and rrn-sians, Sardinian-, r^ig- 
lish and Spanish, in La \ eiidee a.ad other dei)annunils, a cull war 
prevailed, where many ads oi" iieni-ni, indeotl, were displayed 
by a brave, but unsuccessful band of royalists, who \iliimaieiy 
paid dear for their revolt, by the most horrid and disgraceful punish- 
ments. 

b. The French revolution had now attained that pitch of extrav- 
agance and disorder, whicii kft no liopus of any lieck oi termi- 
nation, but that which actuiJ'V ensued, nameiv. a nulitary despo. 
tism. According to tl'.e jvmarksof one of the able-t members of tiie 
hi-st national assemJ'fy, one who was siicriliced at the period we 
have been treating of, in a way the most treacherous and iVMjllinir 
to every I'ueling min.l, the French rcvoiulion biing nnderiaken not 
for the sake of men, hut for the sake of opinioii, had no dislinct 
leader, no Cromwell or Fairfix. All were leaders, all instilutors, 
all equally interested in the course of alliiirs. Such a revoiuticn, 
he observes, must be commenced by ail, but he was sagacious 
enougli to foresee that it would probably be terminated by oue. All, 
iiowever, for a cert dn tim;', bei.ig fsidors and insliiutcrs, nothing 
could ensue from su:h a siaU,' of tilings, hul continual struggles to be 
uppermost; continual denuncialious and proscrii)tiou- of rival jiarlies; 
and a strange succe-;sion of new ccnstiliiiious, and v.ew forms of gov- 
ernment, as any opening seemed to occur for bringing things to a 
gettlement. 

ti. The death of Robespierre, and of many of his accompUces, 



33G MODERN illSTOKY. 

clearly afforded siich an opening, if not for settling, '{{{' feast lot 
ameliorating things ; but for some time the con\ enlion 'ind the na- 
tion seemed to he in too great a surprise and consternulioii to jn'O- 
ceed with any method lo so desirable an end. The fuimer iiaving 
had its origin in the days of anarchy and confusion, seemed littie 
prepared lo defend or support its own dignity, but the cry of hti- 
manity began again to be raised, and to be lieard, and in no long 
course of time after tlie defeat of llobespierre, the jacobin club, | 
,Votn which had emanated all the previous acts and decrees, so 
disgraceful to France, was abolished and dissolved, by a decree of 
the coinention. The reformation of the laws and government 
gave greater trouble. The pain of death had been decreed against 
any who should propose to set aside the ronstiluiion of 1,793, and 
with this sentence hanging over Ihem, all the people had sworn to 
uphold and maintain it. Tired, however, of the absolute nnd un- 
controllable power they had exercised, many members, even of the 
convention, sincerelj' wished for more limited authority. A com- 
mittee was appointed to prepare a new code of laws, and, in the 
mean time, processes were carried against sorr.c of the most violent 
bi' the abettors of the late tumults and disorders, particularly the 
commissioners who had sanctioned the most dreadful proceedings 
at Lyons, Nantes, Orange, and Arras. The execrable law nndep 
which they had acted, "• Loi des suspects," was repealed, and a just 
vengeance directed against those who had been most forward to car- 
ry it into execution. 

7. At length a new constitution was framed, presented to the 
convention, and approved. Two legislative councils, one of live 
hundred members, and the other of two hundred and tifly, were 
t >_enact the laws; the former to propose, the latter to saiiction or 
reject them. The executive government was ccmniiifcd to iivo 
directors, chosen by the legisiature, but whose responsibility was 
i!l-detined, and their connexion with the legislative bodies not sulii- 
ciently provided ibr, either as a balance, or controlling power. It 
was not without other limits and blemishes, but it may undoubtedly 
fee regarded as making a much nearer approach to onier and reg- 
ularily, than the one which it was intended to supersede. It was 
forniiUly accepted and proclaimed, September 23, 1,795.* 

S. This may be considered as the third conslHution established 
since the firsl meeting of the slftU^s-general, in 1,789; great objec- 
tions were made to one article, whicli spcured the relurn of a very 
large proportion of the members of the comention, to .serve in the 
new legislature. Tumults were raised in the sections of Paris, and 
an attack made upon the convention, which, however, was at last 
rescued from the violence of the mob. Buonaparte, wiio was then 
at Paris, was appointed to act upon this occasion in defence of liic 
assembly. 

0. Externally, the affairs of France may be said to have been a? 
this moment in a high and extraordinary degree of prosperity. The 
campaigns of 1,794 and 1,795, committed to the charge of very al)le 
generals, Pichegru, Sonham, Jourdan, Kleber, Moreau, and 3Du- 
gommier, had hitherto succeeded beyond their utmost expectations. 
The Belgian slates, and the uniled provinces, hud not only been 

* The directors being Reubel, Letourneur, Lareveillere-I.epaux, Bar- 
ras, and Sieyes ; but the latter decliniug the honour, Caruot supplied his 
place 



niODEllN HISTORY. 337 

wrested from the hnnfi- of thoir dofenflpr';, the Anstriar.s, Pnissians, 
anJ BriLish, hut ;)sso<-!:iifii ^.i',illile IVeuc'i ie;iiil>'ic in ;i' ciose coti- 
iedenicy. The sLioHicrlo;--^.,!!' \sm< u^.\n\ ;i!.<.,, ^.i,sl, j.nd the sladt- 
liohler iind his I'lruiiv obiij^i'd to l;iivc iV'liu!' i!i l"ii;^l:!tid. In liie 
mv,\n timi>_, peace luul bjeii conchid,?:! wiUi liiiiiiy ol' tiie l>ehii;ei-(>iit 
powers, liighly advanla^eous (o riMnc; wilh rru^-ia, .Spalii, ihii 
laiid-^rave ol'lies^se, the grand duke of 'ruscany, and oiliers ; wliile 
*he navi;;atioa of tiie rivers Riiino, Meusc, and Scheldl, had hceii 
rendered i'ree, in all their courses and brandies, to the people <.f 
France. These proceedi;ij;s, with regard to the Belgian stide* arid 
Holland, were tiie commencement of a system pursued jrom l!,.tl 
ti-na on all the frontiers of the new repul'lic. By a decree of tiie 
national assembly, the French generals were directed to prociaiiu 
even'v where the sovereignly of the ^*«yj/c, to suppi'oss all auUiorilies 
and privileges, to repeal ail taxes, and L'Staoli-h jjrovi-ional g(.\ei'n- 
rnenls on democratic principle-. By this system of "frulcnv.zutim)^'' ^ 
•■i< it wa-i called, tiie subdue.) countries being formed inio re).ub;ios,' 
^^ rcpuljliqucs sutellues,'''' as they were siguilic.iiitiy denoiuiiiated by llie 
French themselves, \vere a-;>ociat.'d \vilh Fr.ince as sulioivhivile 
states. Ol'tlie states first re'obitionized in Ibis mai'.ner, the j;;ita\ian 
republic look ih(! leail, surrendering to Fr.mee, witliout In siiation, 
the ciiii'f of her foriresscs, and thu'< cxleiidiug, and at ihe same time 
protecting her tVoiilier. The mi-lake ^he m ule in thus welcoming 
the French, was but too soon discovered. The French levied heavy 
contriiiutions ; the faigiish took from them many of their l"oreign 
Settlements, and particularly the cape of Good Hope, and the island 
of (Jeylon. 

10 "In the month .of Juno, 1,795, Louis XVll., the urdoi'tunate son 
of Louis XVI., died in the temple, under circuiastances ex'.remely 
suspicious, and very deploraiile, having been some time in tiie i;u-;- 
lody of a low-born drunken wretch, \vho did every thing he couid 
to Tiisult and torment him, and unl.rmine his healih. He was in (he 
eleventh year of his age at the lime of his death, iris sislc^r, the 
princess royal, (the present duchess of Angouleme) wrTS soon atlei- 
v/ards most happily released from her miserable prison, whence i, 
father, mother, and aunt, had been successively led to execution. 
and wiiere an only brother had died a victim to cruelty, and perhaj>* 
poiso'.i. Her royal highness \vas cxclianged tor certain members of 
the late convention, who had been delivered up to the allies, by the 
l^enerals who had incurred the displeasure of their rulers at Paris, 
or had fallen into the hands of the enemy by other accidents. 



SECTION XV. 

FU.VXCE, FR0:S1 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DIRECTORY, 
1,795, TO THE PEACE OF AMIENS. 

1. ThE appointment of the five directors, was an act of policy 
on the part of the ruling members of the convention, who thought 
it better to hazard such a division of the executive power, than to 
give umbrage to the people, by the renewal of a first magistrate* 
though an elective one. As these new ofiicers, however, owed 
their nomination to the influence of those members of the late con- 
vention who were chosen to form a part of the legislative bodyj a 
Ff 43 



538 MODERN HTSTORY. 

close union was soon found to subsist between the iIirectoi"S and the ' 
cnajoiity of the council. 

i. The council of ;incien(s, consisting of two hundred and /:fty 
members, at tir-st appeared to ibrm tlie ()ul\vark of (lie new coiisU- 
iution ; liaving no share in the framing of tlie hiw;-, they were aide 
to interpose with the greater dignity in pronouncing tlieir judgment 
upon such as were reterrcd to them, and olton exercised the re- 
stored privilege of the veto beneticially for the public. The judi- 
cial murders of tiie reign of terror were terminated, and the guv- 
<Mnment displayed, in many instances, a return to moderation and 
iiunr.uiily, extremely desirable and praiseworthy, but in the south 
ern d-ri()ai-imen(, a sy.-tem of rcacliwn and ret:\liation prevailed, wiiicli 
it was l)eyond their power to control. An organized body of assassuH 
kept all those parts of tlie nation in a state of incessant alarm. The 
meLi-opolis was in some degree restored to its Avonted gayety, but 
every thing bespoke, ;-.s might reasonably be expected, a most de- 
moralized state of society. The stage became intolerably licentious, 
and the public amusements were disgraced, by a freedom of maa- 
ners. and indelicacy of dress on the part of the females, beyond mea- 
sure offensive. Tiioso whose nearest connexions had been doomed 
to the scalfold, could, find no belter mode of conuTiemorating their 
l(».ss, than \)y J estiva meetings, called '•'■ Bals d la Fictlmc," to whi<^h 
no t)iie could be admitted but such as had lost a !;ither» a mother, a 
husband, a wifo, a brother, or a sister, by the guillotine ! 

3. Hitherto tlie prowess of the I'rench armies had been mani- 
fested much more in the north, and on the llhine, than iu (be 
southern parts of the continent; towards Ibdy, the Ausirians and 
P:edmontesc seemed to hold the French iu check. Uugommier had 
jpJeeil invaded Spain with cfiect; and by his attacks contributed 
to bring about a peace with that CQuntry ; but no'.v a ul'w scene 
w;!S about to open, ieailing to such a succession of victories and 
revolutions as it would be impossible fully to describe in such a work 
as the present. 

■J. Marly in the year 1,790, general Buonaparte obtained (bein^ 
lli'-n twenty-six years of age,) the chief command of the army of 
Italy, as it was called, liis eagerness to conimence operauons 
dievv upon hiin some remonstrances. It was suggested to him that 
many things were wanting in bis army necessary to the c^unpaign. 
*•• 1 have enough,"' said he, "if 1 conquer, and too many if I shouid 
i>e iicaten."' The Austrian army in those, parts was commanded 
I.T :;;eneral Beauiieu, an oilkcr peculiarly active and enlerpiising. 
(iiieral Buonaparte took the commantl of tiie Trench armv on the 
:;i ill (.f March, and between tlie 12lh and loth of April, beat the 
.\;;stiian troops in three distinct engagements, at IMontc'iiotte, Mil- 
!i»imo (or Montelezino,) and J3ego. in the space ot four days, it 
-b.is h-ien computed, that the Austi'ian army was diminished to tiie 
aliiount of 15,liUU men, being separated a.t the same lime frOm their 
t'iedmontese idlies. After the battle of iJego, Buonaparte advanced 
rapidly inlo Biedmont, nor did he stop till lie had arrived at the 
very gates of Turin. There he agreed to an iirmistice soliciled by 
the king, who was ignominiously compelleil to submit to his occu- 
[)yiug with French troops all the principal tbrtresses of liis coun- 
try, ilappy to be allowed to retain the capital, he was also obliged 
to cede Savoy, Nice, Tende, and Bcuil. i'rom Turin, Buona- 
parte pursuecf his course into Lombardy, and by the celebrated 



M0JJE1L\ HISTORY. SS9 

battle of Lodi, ^n the 10th of May, obtained complete possessior, of 
the Milnnojse. 

5. Ltivviliing to entor immediately mlo the narrow parts of It.ily 
in this stage of his proceediiigj^, he salisfieu himself n\ iih threaten- 
ing the i)0^3C and the king of JVaples, (ill he brought ihcni to terms 
of peace ; the former surrendering to the French j-ej-ublic, Bologna, 
Ferrara, and the orasts ol the Adriatic, from the months of the J'o, 
to Ancona; and the latter consenting to contribute largely to the 
maintenance of the French army, and to close his ports againft 
the enemies of Fiance. The dukes of Parma and Rlodena, made, 
submission in time to save their countries. The grand duke of" 
Tuscany luul previously acknowledged the French republic, hut 
was bidden very })eremptorily to exclude the English from the 
port of Leghorn. The submission of all these princes and states 
to the overwhelming force of the army under the command of Buo- 
naparte, was but part of the victory he obtained over them. In 
every step he took, he was careful, by new laws, treaties, and po- 
litical ai'rangements, to '"'' revolutionize'' the countries over which 
he obtained an ascendency by arms, and to incorporate them uilh 
t!ie Fiench lepuLlic. Savoy, Nice, and the Milanese, were thus 
brought under his dominion, and ultimatdy erected into distinct, 
tiicugh subordinate republics. 

<3. It was at the very commencement of the military career of 
this extraorilinary man, that he adopted a system of i)lunder, which, 
for a long lime, engaged the attention of the whole civilized world. 
In all the treaties concluded with the Italian princes, he stipnIaleJ 
that French artists should be admitted into then- public galleries, 
Tiuiseunis, and palaces, to select as many as they might choose, of 
the choicest peribrmances of the celebrated painters and sculptors 
of all ages, and cause them to be conveyed to Paris. French sentiment 
has dwelt upon the circumstance of the immortal Raphael, Titian, 
and Pomenicliino, having thus had it in their power, and in such 
crilicai moments, to pay the ransom of their native countries, ovei- 
looking the sad violation of sentiment occasioned by the removal of 
these jtrecious pledges of their stupendous talents" from the hands 
wliich had so lonj^ [jreservcd them, and from 'places of which they 
hid been so justly regarded as the choicest and most valuable 
ornaments. 

7. The siege of Mantua was attended with many severe contlicls, 
Ou the reduction of that ifnportant place, Buonaparte is staled to 
hav e tt.us addressed his soldiers : " The capture of Mantua termi- 
n;iles a campaign which has justly entitled you to Ihe everlasting 
graiitude of yoiu' country. You have triumphed over the enemy in 
three iiilched battles, and seventy inferior engagements ; you have 
f.dicn a hundred thousand prisoners, til'ty field-pieces, two thousand 
baltering cannons. The country you have subdued has nourished, 
niaiiitaiiKMl, and paid the army during the whole campaign, and you 
Irive reniilled thirty niillions to the minister of finance, in aid of the 
puljiic treasuiy. Von have enriched the museum at Paris, with 
more than three hundred of the choicest and most valuable works of 
ari, both of ancient and modern Italy, and winch it had taken thirty 
agi'S to produce.'''' 

8. Though we know from subsequent accounts of French victo- 
ries, that they are net always to be depended upon, yet there can 
be no doubt, that the above address does pretty I'airly describe the 
exlraordinurj rapidity and extent of Buonaparte''s tii-st operations 



340 MODERN lliSTUKV. 

in the fip.ld. The years 1,796 i\nd 1,797, wore indeed marked by 
S'lf.li siirprisinsj iusliiiires of this iiiiluro, that they deserve a place 
ill l)i-.i()iv, ihcugh the piuiieiice and good gcMieiaisliii) of sucii jue- 
cipilnle steps iiii.s l*i;on n%ur,aiably questioned. Ahiiilua cajiilulnlcnl 
on the 2d of Fobniary, 1,797, and Duoir.ipnrle pursued his course 
in the direction of tlie Austrian capital, lea\ing Italy hehind Idni, 
with a view of penetrating to Vienna. Though oldiged to hglit his 
way, he succeeded, Marcli 2, 1,797, in taking possessicai ol' (imdis- 
ca, which laid open to him tlie provinces ol Cioritz, Carniola, and 
(Jarinlhia. 

9. The Austrian grand army was commanded by the emperor's 
brother, the archduke Charks, an able general, a great tiivourile 
wiih the soldiei's, and who had coinhaled the French on the Kliiue 
nith sij;nal success. lie \vas not, however, strong enough to awidt 
the vipproHch of the French, who soon reached Leoben, only thiriy 
miles ffom Vienna, udiere great consternaticai was excited, and iho; 
iaiperi.d fnriily compelled to retire. As both armies, however, 
were brou^jiit into a v^ry critical position, nogolialions were en- 
tered into at this place, an armistice concluded on the 8th of Apiii, 
and prean.iaarios of peace signed on the loth of the same month, 
1,797. 

10. Before we notice the celebrated treaty of Campo-Formio, 
by vvhicli the peace was settled and confirmed, it may be lit lo con- 
sider the slate of those countries which Huonaparte had left behind 
on his march upon V'ienn;i. He had made peace on ids own terms 
(«vom advantageous ones for France') with Fanna, IModena, Kome, 
and x\ iples. fie had overran Sa\oy, obtai;K'd pos-ession of the 
.Miia^iL's.:-, and reduced Manlua. irie had erected Cienoa into (he 
Li-^ii:i ai republic, an I the Milanese he converted into the Ci-^aipiue 
r--j)ub.ic,;d"ler h.iviii^ lirst given it the name of Transpad.ui:-, in 
retv-rence to the rive-r Fo, and in oontradi^dnction to the Ci-padane 
r.'puijiic, con-isting of iModena, Bologna, ileggio, and Ferrara, con- 
led:'ratc'd in 1,796. He had passed \ enice on his way lo 'J'riesie, of 
»vidc!i lie took possession on the 3d of Ajjril, 1.797. The Veneiians 
had aiiur.lod an asylum to Le>vis Xv 111., and wavei-ed greatly in 
taldng part either with the Ausii-ians or liie French not being able 
!o calculate upon tile i-sue of the contest. They h.ad also fallen 
into do nesiic broils and dissensions, which gave the FitMich cr.mniaud- 
(!r t!ie opporluniy lie always sought, of introducing a i'reucli army 
to allay their dider.Hice'-'. I'he consequences were, that liiey ini- 
mediileiy sei/..'d upon the licet, tlie loni.in islands, and, in I'acI, all 
Uie Veneiian states, uhicli eivUaed Buonap.irto greatly to improve 
'he peace he was inakiag with the Ausiri ins. Aloania arid the loni- 
■v.\ i-lanJs he kept to hi use!!'; to t!ie Cisalpine republic ise assigni'd 
Ihe western <!ependenci :s of V'enic •, reser\ing for .Austria, the capi- 

,'.al, istrii, Dainritii. aii I the inland of the A Iri ilic, in evciiange tor 
'.lie Netiierlauds and liie dticliy of Luxeniliurg. ile hail profess- 
ed to entei' upon the \'en :liaii states, m Mvly io rescue tiiem from 
[\i2 ban Is of .\u-;iri !, bat by this exl!M'ii-,iiii,iry mauiBuviv, he not 
3niy delivered th ;m over lo the very poaei' uc,\i] whom lie under- 
;oek lo s.ive the-ai, but he obtaisied from Austria the very object fei 
'ar' sake of wliic!) her iaigiisl) allies iiad nMnsed to make peace ic 
l.7;!6. ouch a[)!>i'ars to h.ave been the ciu'f ii)undaiion oC iheceie 
ftnUed ti-eaty of €'aiii;)0-Fonnin, c<>iicliiv!ed between the emperor and 
tlie French republic, October, 17, 1,797. 
U. Treviously to the coaciusion of tli>'; treaty of-Caaapo-Forniio, 



MODEKiN' liiSTOiiV. 341 

the iillics had lost three of their confederates, the dukes of Wir- 
teinlmig and Bavaria, and tlie Margrave of Baden, all of whom 
had f.)H!i(l it necessary to purchase peace ol' tlie directoi-y by heavy 
coiilributions. Such great advantages in its external relations 
ucre, however, far from conlrihiiting to the internal tranquillity of 
the republic. The first live directors, as might naturally have been 
expected, were by no means accordant in their views, or of equal 
taleiils and abilities; and provision seemed to have been macle 
lor iresh revolutions, by the continual recurrence of new elections, 
boiii in the legisia.tive assemblies and directory. One of the live 
dii'ectors vas annually to go out, and one third of each of the le- 
gislative bodies to be renewed. The tirst event of this kind, as 
miglit be expected, revived all the jealousies of rival parties, and 
produced an explosion almost as violent as any that had yet occur- 
red ; liie explosion of the ICth of Fructidor, as marked in the short- 
lived republican calendar. Le Tourneur quitted the directory by 
lot, and was succeeded by Barlhelemi, who soon appeared inclined 
to join Carnot against Reubel, Barras, and Larevilliere-Lepaux. 
The three lalter were for assuming a despotic power ; their oppo- 
nents were divided, some inclined to the restoration of royalty, 
oliicrs to the emancipation of the councils from the sway of the 
directors, Reubel and his two associates ; but as they tbrmed a mi- 
uorily, and their enemies were prompt in their measures of revenge, 
and iiad moreover the command of the mihtary, it was not long be- 
fore the latter obtained the victory they sought. On the 4lh of 
September, 1,797, tiie legislative assemblies wt?re surrounded with 
^j'oops, and at the instance of the three ruling directors, two of their 
colleagues, (Carnot and Barlhelemi) several members of the tvvo 
coiiuciis, many pul)lic ministers, and many men of letters, declared 
guilty of ai.ti-Vepubiicah measures and principles, arrested and impri- 
soned ; and, on the 5th, sentenced to deportation to the unhealthy 
and remote settlement of Guiana, in South America. The authors, 
editors, dl rectors, and proprietors, of no less than forty-two public 
jf-u-nais wei-e included in the sentence. Some of the proscribed 
rneiiiticrs found means to escape ; but those who were conveyed to 
(juiana, suffered dreadfully from the voyage; many died from the 
umvholesomeness of the place, some found means to return to Europe, 
particularly general Fichegru and the ex-director, Barthelemi, who 
n'ere conveyed to England from the Dutch settlement of Surinam. 

12. liuonaparte returned to Paris not long after these disturban- 
ces, and was received w ilh peculiar honours. The people began 
to look up to him for deliverance from the tyranny of three direct- 
ors; and l!ie latter were a? eager to remove him from the metropo- 
lis. In the midst of the honours paid to him, on account of his vic- 
tories in Italy and Germany, Barras, with great emphasis, nominat- 
ed him as the hero destined to place the tri-coloured Hag on the 
tower of London. Troops were actr.aliy assembled on the coasts 
of Fianders antl Normandy for the purpose ; hut Buonaparte him- 
self, seeing the impracticablility of such an; attempt, meditated 
more tiistant expedition. 

13. In the course of the Tear 1,798, the system, began so suc- 
cessfully in Flanders and Holland, of revolutionking the countries 
into which the Frencii armies should penetrate, was earned to a 
great extent. ^Vatchful to seize upon every opportunity aflorded 
them by internal dissensions, the French this year obtained posses- 
sion ot Koine, Switzerland, the Pays de Vaud, the Gnsons, and 

Ff2 



.54i> MODHKIN MISTOUr, 

Goneva, undp.r circnni«tnnce« peculiarly ili*tro«'iing to liie existing 
governments, am3 comrnotily wltciuied with lie:>vy cxaclioii!!, .ukI 
the piiHider of thf't oliiuclie"*, piilaces, and tniisemi.s. 'i'lie pope 
w.iri driven from Ivonic, p;irtiy hy Id^ own suhjt^cl*, and piuHy 
thmngli an overweening contidencc in \n^ own power and indii- 
ence. 'J"'liP Konian republic was prociaiined Keliniary la, l,7;)o; 
and the tinances being Ibuu'! in a bad slate, tlie Vatican and uliiei , 
public buildings slrippv*d of their contents. Tiie I'ays de N'aiid. 
ubitlier the French iiad been invited, to protect liieni agaitisl tlie 
ai-i-tocr.itic despotism of the Bernese, was l"ormed into the Lcnutiu 
and Switzerland, alter many ciaiel sacrilices, into the Jlclvclic re 
public, or rather into three republics, tor that was ultimately the 
arrangement adopted ; provisional governnjeiits being in ail plat.es 
appointed, conformably, in a great degree, to the ])rinciples of the 
French constitution. J>Jo remonstrances on the part of the free can- 
tons could save them from the directorial decrees. An address to 
this eilect, peculiarly pathetic and elocpient, frotn tlie cantons of 
S'liwi;/., Uri, Appeii/.el, Claris, Zug, and Underwalden, irad no 
etfect whatever in preserving them from a change of constitution, 
fiirccd upon them by (kuincmtic France. The degenei'ale lioimms 
Ijarl appeared to pride themselves upon emulating their heroic an- 
cestors, in re-establislung tlie republic, under the auspices of CiaHic 
invmlers. But the brave Swiss resisted to the utmost the rude dis- 
turbers of their ancient freedom. Tiie modern repulilicans of Home 
chanted a Te Deum. to hallow their deliverance. The Swiss sung 
their antiquated songs of patriotism and freedom, (ill the mo<t diie 
necessity compelled them to surrender their established constitutioa 
to the dictates of a French directory. 

14. On the 5th of May, Buonapaite left Paris for Toulon, to lake 
the command of an expedition, the real object of which has scarce 
ly been ascertained to thi-- day, though it appears most probable, 
that he (lesigned to join Tippoo Saib in India, and to subvert tiie 
British empire there. Me was accompanied by many artists, natu- 
ralists, and antiquarians, and a large proportio:i of tiie army which 
had served under him in Italy. Malta lying in liis way to Eg) pd, 
he tailed not to take possession of it, partly by force, and partly liy 
intrigue, subjacting that island and its dependencies, Goza aid Cumi- 
no, to the French republic, June 12, 1,798. Its coi»quest had for 
some time previously been meditated, but it had lately been put 
under the protection of the emperor of llussia, Paul I. : it was treated 
by the French as ill as other places, notwithstanding the utmost 
assurances to the contrary. The knights were driven Irom tlie 
island, many of the people compelled to join the French army, 
and new laws imposed under the authority of the directory, in tiie 
month of July, this year, 1798, a triumphant entry into Paris, of 
all the works of art collected in the several places subdued by the 
Frencti aims, took place amid the acclamations of the people. The 
French fleet had narrowly escaped at Malta the pursuit cf ar Lug 
lish one, under the command of Nelson ; and after the subduciion 
ot the island, it was able to proceed, still undiscovered, to Egypt, 
where the English had already been to look for them in vain. Un 
the 2d of July, Buonaparte took possession of Aiexauih-ia, mooring 
his Heet in the bay of Aboukir. in less tlian three weeks from Ids 
landing, and al'ter a severe action with the r\Iamelukcs, called the 
battle of the pyramids, Cairo, and the wliole of the Delta fell into 
his power ; but his triumph was lessened by the loss of his fleet, on 



MODKIl^' HISTORY. 34"! 

the 1st of August, which, being ntlackod in the liny I y Nelson, nas 
ahiiost totally destroyed or taken, tlie riericli ailniiml Bnujs liciiij.' 
killed and liis sh''p hnrtit ; foiu' ships only, '^vo ol'tlK m tVij^-ilt's, were 
all that escaped. When Ihionaparle leii Toulon, ids Ih-et cnnsi^icd 
ol 4U0 sail, inchiding thirteen ships ul" the line, and it was ralhei 
iiicr-iased than otherwise hy his cnleiprise at Malta. • 

13. 'I'lic victory ot' IS'eison gave a new turn to the war ngaini^t 
the French. On his quitting Egypt, he carried his (leet lu iNapirs, 
uliere tiie utmost joy was manili'sted hy tiie court at the hlow whicli 
hail been given to the I'^rench pre[)onderance. The queen in\i)i..!'d 
the Austrians to renew the war against France; and the expeil'tiori 
to I'^gypt and attack upon ftlaita iiaving excited the czar, and cwu 
tiie grand seignior, to resist aggressions so unprovoked and alarming, 
Francis il. was r.ol insensible to tiie caH made upon him. laij^iaiid 
was not backward to encourage and r.id sncii movements, in eveiy 
part of I'lui'ope. Tiie king of Sardinia, and the grand duke of 'I'ns- 
cany showed themselves willing to join the new confederacy; but 
liie king of Prussia was not to be prevailed on to abandon liis ncu- 
tralily. 

16. The Neapolitan court, which had been the foremost to ex- 
cite this new war, were the tirst sufferers fr'<m it. Having iiuaded 
the territories of tlie church, and even obtained possessimi of iionie. 
they were suddenly driven back by the French, the capital taken, 
and the royal family compelled to retire to Palermo, in ^icily. INa- 
p!es was iiut taken possession of \vilhont a I'ormidahle iiisiirrecii( n 
ut' that extraordinary portion of its population, the Ldzzurciti, with 
whom the king, whose amusements were often unbecoming iiis liigh 
nuik, liai)penetl to be popular. This resistance provoked reprisal.'? 
rxceedingly distressing to the inliabitants, and almost ruinous to 
the ciiy; ihe tumult, however, was at length appeased, iuul the 
kingdom of Naples converted *into the Furlkenojjcan^ or jVeapolitun 
republic. 

17. The king of Sardinia, and the grand duke of Tuscany wei-e 
also made to pay dear for the renewal of hostilities, both being de- 
prived of their dominions, as allies of the Neapoiiians, and com- 
P'iled to abandon their capitals. The aged pop;', n lio had indeed, 
by many unwise provocations, irritated the Fieiich, a rel'iigef; in 
the Tuscan territories, unwilling to accoa.'paiiy the deposed ))rincea 
in their retreat tVom Florence, and too conlidently relying on tiie 
reverence that would bo paid to his years ;.md siaiioii, ^vas acluailv 
arrested in his monastic retirement, anil conveyed to \ alence. i:i 
Dauphiny, a prisoner, where he died l)roken heailed, Aiig'i-t 'i;*. 
1.7Ui). On the establishment of the consuiai- government, hi.-? body 
was honourably interred, and a monunient creeled o\ ei' him. 

18. Ihit the directory, in tlie miiUt ol' ihc-se arl.iliMiy seizures cf 
states and kingdoms, actr-i! with t(^o little foresight, as to the ehee;-, 
of the formidable confederacy of iiiissia and Aus.lria. TIa' 1 ivia h 
armies were widely sep;ii-ated, ami niaey "f liic most successi'id 
generals, through a p^Mnicions je-'oesv. (ii~giM:i'd and remijved 
from their command. This dis!ii.;ii'((Mie;i Vuv M.iiiiiM-s; and reverse:? 
were preparing lor liiem, boili in Cicniiany aial iialv. Tiie l>ussi-an 
army, under Souvaro'f, entered the latter country early hi the spring 
of the year l,7b9, and on the l3lh of April was at Verona. The. 
character and manners of this northern general, made a great im- 
pression both upon the aljied armies, and upon the inhabitants of the 
couatries he invaded The l-'rench, under the celebrated Rloreau, 



344 MODERN lilSTOIlY. 

were obliged ti) fall back, leaving tnc Milanese exposed to the com- 
bined {orces. After various actions, Milan was invested ; and, after 
a nineteen days' siege, t;iken May 24. Turin, Alessandria, Mantua, 
and rortona, were reduced in the months of June and July- and 
in most of these places, as well as in other parts of Italy, Tuscany, 
Naples, and Rome, great indignation was manifested against ihe 
Frencli, of whose tyranny they had all tasted, and of whose friend- 
sliip they were already become \veary. In a sliort time the French 
retained, of all their conquests in those parts, only Genoa and i^avuy. 
19. While these things were going on, the councils at Paris be- 
gan to ili^lrust the government of the direci-ors, and to ask why 
Ijuonaparte Avas at such a distance. Inquiries of this kind were 
often put to his brother Lucien, who had a seat in the council of 
live hundred. A party was ibrmed against the most obnoxious of 
the directors, and three found it necessary 1o retire. Anotiirr revo- 
lution in the government was evidently preparing. Buonaparte's 
absence and olyect seemed equal!}- mysterious. It was supposed 
that he meant to open the old channel of trade between the East 
Indies a^id the Mediterranean. Atler the destruction of his lleet, 
as though banished irom I'rance, he appeared eager to establish a 
colony in Egypt, which, perhaps, was originally in his view, in 
carrying thitiier all tliat the arts and sciences of Europe could con- 
tribute of utility or beauty. All his works were superintendi'd by 
persons of known celebrity lor talent and knou'Iodge ol' every de- 
scription; but he w;as turned from this object by the jealousy ol 
Ihe Turks, who, alter the battle of Aboukir, (or of the Nile, as it 
is generally called in England,) were ready enough to join (be 
English in attacking the French, confined, as it were, within their 
territories. Buonaparte, to be beforehand with them, marched into 
.Syria, where the pacha of Acre, a man of ir.ost ferocious character, 
commanded. He succeeded in taking many fortresses, and ibr 
three months m.untained a war in the very heart of the country, 
but his artillery haviui' been irtercepted by the English, who bad 
also been admitted into Acre, his attempts upon the lalter place 
were frustrated, and, being threatened on ail sides, he resolved to 
return to Egypt ; there be received letters to inform him of the 
reverses in Ital)', and the disonlers at Paris, and to pre«s his return ; 
but the Turks had landed at Aboukir, and taken possession of the 
fort, and it was judged necessary for his limie, that he should not 
qiiit E^'ypt wiijiout l)eating them. He hastened to atta'^k them, 
antl succeeded ; but not without mr.ny severe conflicts, and an eight 
days'" siege of the fortress of Aboukii'. Soon ai\er this success, he 
embarked clandestinely for France, leaving the army under the com- 
mand of gener.d Kleber, (who comphdne I greatly of oeing so duped 
iuid abandoned,) and in a very extraordinary manner escaped ail the 
English ships cruising in the Medilerranean. 

20. Buonaparte arrived just in time to take advantage of the 
distracted state ot"the govei-nment. The legislature was a prey to 
faction ; the directors divided in opinion ; the jacobins and anarcuisti 
extremely troublesome, and nut unlikely to recover their sway; 
while m;my departments were in a state. of insurrection and civii 
war. Sieyes, the most wise and politic of all that had yet been in 
the directory, foresaw the necessity of a change, and wantcil only 
some military genius to support his measures, and to whom he 
could confide his desio;ns. Three other important characters ap- 
peared to rest their hopes on the interference of Buonaparte; 



MODERN HISTORY. S45 

Fouche, minister of police; Canihaceres, minister of justice; i\ntl 
Hip cx-miriistcr for fbicign alTairs, ''j'iilleyrand i-'crigonl. 

21. Williiii a month after tiie anival of BiionaparUr. a proposal 
was made in the council of ancients, to remove the legislative bod- 
ies to St. Cloud, and to coafer on Buoaaparle the command of the 
troops at Paris. At the moment the decree was passed, liuonaparte, 
accompanied by many of the generals who had disiinguished them- 
selves under him. ajipeared at the bar, denouncing thnjats again*t all 
uho should traverse the decree just passed. The council of live 
hundred, taken by surprise, made some show of resistance ; and Buo- 
n;ip,ute appearing amongst them, gave stich oli'ence, that he was in 
danger of assassination, amidst the cries of '"Down with the tyrant !"' 
"i\o dictator!" His brother Lucien, at that time president, was 
loudly called upon to pronounce a decree of outlawry against him, 
which he evaded by throwing aside his ollicial dress, and renour.ciiig 
his seat in the assembly ; after which, Buonaparte, in some alarm, 
liaving joined his troops, the meeting was dissolved, and violently dis- 
persed by the soldiery. It was allowed huwever to assemble again 
under the former presidency, the Jacobinical members being excluded, 
when a new order of things, appi'oved by the council of elders, was 
br(Might forward, decreed, and proclaimed. The directory was abol- 
i-lied, and tkrre new cliief magistrates appointed under the name ol 
consuls, while committees were formed to prepare a new constitu- 
tion. Eighty persons were to compose a senate, one hundred a 
tribunate, arid three h'^'idred a legislative body. 

22. The time seemed now to be arrived when the excesses of the 
revoluiiouiiry movenient hati prepiretl men's minds for a transition 
from a state of anarchy to one ot despotism. I'opular liberty had 
fdlen into disrepute, I'ram the violences of tiu; jacobins; and a 
strong executive government seemed indispensably necessai'y to re- 
store things to any degree of order and consistency. Thougli tlie 
Jive directors appeared to be exchanged ibr Oiree consuls, there 
was, in the last instance, no correspondent division of power and 
authority To the lirst consul were assigned functions and pre- 
rogatives exceedi:igiy distinct Irom those of his colleagues. "■ Unity 
of thought and acHon was dechired to be a lundamenlal quality in 
the executive power."'' So far they were evidently going back to 
tlie lirst and best principles of monarchy. Hitherto, however, an 
elective and limited consai;;te was all that was contemplated. Gen- 
eral Buonaparte was apjiointed lirst consul, Cambaceres the second, 
and Le iirun^he third , tlie tirst two for ten, the last for only live 
yea.rs; Buonaparte, to s:!y the least, having ail the power of a iving, 
thougii not the n;nne, j'ssigned to liiin, — a power approaching too 

[ near to absolute ai'd uncoiUroliablc despotism. 

23. In the tirst discharge of his new functions, however, he was 
careful to display a spirii of moderation, forbearance, and conciliation, 
in many popular acts at home, and overtures of peace to England. 
The iailer were witlioui ellocl, and a large subsidy being granted bv 
the British parliament, to eni.l>ie tb.e emperor to continue the war 
tio time wiss lost by the French m endeavouring to recover their 
fooling in Italy. In" the month of May, l,8Ut», the tirst consul left 
I'.iris, to take the commiuid of the army in those parts; and allet a 
iuost sur|)ri.-ing passage through the mountainous parts of Switzer- 
land, ;u>.d ihe capture of the town ol' Costa, with the celebrated fort 
of Bard, succeeded so far as to be able to enter Milan once more in 
tiiuniph, the Austrians retiring before him, littkj expecting that he 

44 



346 MOJDEKN HISTORY. 

could find a way into Lombardy by the road he had chosen. The 
Russian army had been withdrawn in disgust, after the proceedings ia 
Switzerland, which had greatly oti'ended the czar. Previously to 
the entrance ot" the (irst consul into Milan, the French, under Masse 
tin, had been compelled <n evacuate Genoa: but the Austiians were 
doomed to sutler a reverse ; and though in the famous bailie ot 
Marengo, whicli took place on the 14th oi" June, tiiey Ibuglit with 
the most desperate courage, and sustained an action of 'ionrteen 
hours with great heroism, and the fairest prospects of success, the 
enemy received reinforcements at so critical a moment as lo cnaliie 
them lo obtain a complete victory, which was soon followed by a sus- 
pension of hostililies, solicited by the Austrian general. 

-' 4. Negotiations for peace were entered into at Paris, and the 
preliminariea were signed ; but, through the remonstrances of the 
English government, (as it is supposed,) the emperor refused his 
ratilicalion, and the war was continued, both in Germany and Italy, 
till the 2jth of December, 1,8U0, when another suspension of hosii'i- 
ilies being agreed to, at ;3teyen, a tov.n in L'pper Austria, soon led 
to the treaty of Lunevillc^ between the French republic and the empire^ 
signed February 9, 18U1 ; by which the llhine was made the boun- 
dary of the French republic, leaving the several princes dispossessed, 
in p;ut or in wi.olc, of their territories on the left side of the river, 
to' be indemnihed in the bosom of the empire ; the Adige, in the 
same manner, being tixed to be the boundary between tlie Austrian 
territories in llidy anti the Cisalpine republic. The Grand dulce of 
Tuscany renounced his dukedom in tavonr of the infant duke of 
Parma, created -king of Etruria ; an 1 the independence cf the Bata- 
vian, 1 ieivelic, and Cisalpine repubiic-, was recognised and guaran- 
tied by both pai-lies. 

23. The English government had refused to enter into a naval 
armistice, though in danger of being deserted by the emperors of 
Germany and liussia, and had declined every oiler of peace upon 
such tfrins, while Malta and Egypt continued in [\\& hands of France. 
But afiL'r the re-captitre of the former, ami the.deleat of the French 
under Meuju, at Alexandria, in Septemi)er, l,B(il, belli parlies seem- 
e,l more disposL'd than before to enter into negotiation, with serious 
vie'.vs of bringing things to an accommodatiori. On March iiTlh, 
1,802, a dellniiive treaty was sigr.ed at Amiens, more favourable lo 
France that to England, though nothing could exceed the joy ex- 
pressed in the latter country^ on the terminnlion of hostililies witn 
tlie French republic, it was soon founti to be no better than a truce 
of very sliort duration. 

26. The power of tl.e French republic at this moment was enor- 
mously great. In addition to tlic i'urmer possesjoas of France, it 
had gained the Netherlands, ana! a considoranle }>orlion of Germany, 
(;ieneva. Piedmont, ;uiil Savoy had been iticorporated with it; liol 
land and Switzerland were rendered effectually dependent u|)on it. 
The Cisalpine republic, including tlie ftlilanese, the duchies ol" Mo- 
dena. Mantua, and Parma, and part of the \'enelian and Roman ter- 
ritories, was placed under the presidency of the lirst consul, for a 
term of ten years. Genoa, or the Ligurian republic, had been re- 
covered by the treaty of Luneviile; Spain was entirely at the com-f 
aiand of i'rance, as well as Tuscany, uuder its new possessor, iht 
vassal king of Etruria. It had recovered also its West Indian setlle- 
meats, and acquired a considerable footing in South America. 



MODERN HISTORY. S47 



SECTION XVI. 

FRANCF, FROM THE PEACE OF AMIENS TO THE TREATY 
OF TILSIT, ],B07. 

1. It has already been observed, that tlie first steps of the con- 
inlafe were of a concilialory nature. Endeavours were made (o 
nacily tlic rebellious deparlmcnts; the law of iiostago, which iiad 
he(>n in its operation extremely vexations, was repealed; and Ihe 
list of emigrants closed. On the lirst change of the jrovernnuiii, 
measures were taken to repress the violence o{' the jacol ins, ;i!ui 
awe the factions ; hut the sentences passed on the most obnuxions 
were afterwards mitigated. 

2. Soon after the conclusion of (be peace of Amiens, the first 
consul gave great satistiicticai to the bulk ol' the ration, by restoring 
the catholic religion. On Easier-day, 1,802, the peace was raliiied 
in the metiopolitan clitirci), ;vith all the sanctions of the ai.>,icnt 
religious forms, and a laige atlfudancc of new juxda'.cs. 'The basis 
of the convention w illi tb-j iio[)e had been siiUed and arrangid in 
the preceding year, wy.rw the following pi i.icJplcs : — 'I'ha.t a r^ew 
division ol' the French di. ;c>os should lie matle, ssnted to the re- 
publican division of llie cvunlry ; and that the Ih-SL consul should 
nominate the new arcbM^- i k- I'iii] I i-'.o;!-. leaving it to Iho [-ope, 
as a matter of cour.-e, 1' n.-liinlinns. 'I'lse I'-hops 
to appoint the p-.i-ish j, r niMiioiiuiion c.f g /v. fn- 
ment. The pojietoi;:'. ,. ■ :,;•■ i ■• i ml l!i~;.ii;s (o i'c;si^ii, :'.-;i to 
engage not to distnr') i'; • ;j .-:ii' ■! pi"! ■■!■;■,• < V llso church. No 
bull, rescript, &c., Ii-oiii li-' < . i,;; ci .:- ;-; , i.'- .i. crcos ij' syiaids, or 
general councils, to lie r;cci\<'d, or pi-c-jiulgai'.-i', i.iiiiuul life C{;u:-( r.t 
of government. No naiional or ciioccsai uieeting ii> take place with- 
out the sa.me autliorily ; or any nuncio, l-jgale, or \icar, to be albnv- 
cd to exercise his functions. 

3. Such were sooic of the principal articles of the concordndtm 
of 1,801. The pope seemed to be glad lo make any concessions 
that might recover France i'rora the depths ( t' inlideliiy ; while ihe 
iuticles themselves plainly shov.' llait the llr-t consul," in roMiaing 
Catholicism, had no irstention tosu!)j(>ct the nalion, us berelolbre, to the 
dominion of the lleman see, vww in si,i;ili;;,l n;;:iKTS. A slill slroi^i;- 
er proof, however, of wliicii, apiu'ars ia the lil;eriy aiT(ii'(kMl, at (IU3 
same ti-.ne, to the Lutherans ;nul "Cr.i\i!ii?ls, wb.o were placed uca'ly 
upon the same footing with the catb.olics: and we.o even albuvtd to 
have three seminaries of cdiicalion ; two in the eastern parts ol France, 
lor the Lutherans, raid one at Geveva, tor liie C'alvinists. i'rovisiou 
was also made in the new concordiJum for the supposed case ol a 
protestant being chosen clucf magistrate of the republic. 

4. On the second of August, 1,SU2, by an extraordinary expres- 
sion of the public will, the consulate, the term of which, in the case 
of Buoiiaparte and Cambaceres, hail been limited to ten yeai's, was 
conferred on the former for iife. The original proposal" had been 
only lo extend the term ; but the people in the different communes 
bein^ called upon to give their opinion, voted, almost unanimous* 
ly, lor its being continued to the first consul tor life, vvliich was 
readily .•janctioned by the senalp. 



S4S MODERN inS'l'OHY. 

5. This appoinlment was soon followefl hj a new form of con- 
stitution, c;Ucuiatc(l to throw greater power into t!ie hands of llie 
first niagisti-ate, wiio uas permitted, not- only to nominate his rol 
leagues, but to make war, Ibrm alliance?, conchiilo peace, patdo'i 
criminals, and virtually to choose (he memberri of liie legislative 
body, by means of t!ie senate, w'nicii was aunost entirely under 
his inlhience. He was carciu!, at the same time, to put the govern- 
ments of the Cisalpine and Liguriui republics, and other newly ac- 
quired states, upon a similar fooling, reserving to himsell', in all cases, 
the supreme power as Hrst magistrate. All liiese steps were so art- 
iiiUy taken, as to appear to be the regular result of popular choice 
',xiid deliberation. Liberty, equality of civil rights, and national 
reitresentation, were professed to bo the objects in view ; hut care 
was taken to render each dependent on the domineering inlluence 
ant! directions of the fjrst consul. It was at this period that the Cisal- 
pine was convertetl into tlie liaiian republic. 

t). Switzerland was not so easily to be brought under the Frcncli 
yoke, though its struggles ibr libei'ty a.nd independence were iinaliy 
laiavailing. Many of the canto!is displayed an almost invincible ;it- 
tachmenl to their ancient constitution, and resisted, in every way 
they could, the menaced invasion of their rights and pi-ivileges; but 
tiie more they were divi'.led amongst themselves, which nnhappiiy 
proved to be the case to a high degree, the greater opportunity, was 
alforded to the despotic ruler of France to interpose his olhces to 
restore peace, nominally as a mediator, but really and efiectually to 
the subjugation of the c(/untry, v/hich, when reduced, was in mockery 
declared to be free and indeiventleut. Kemnnstrances on the part of 
the English court, are supposed to have hati some elTect in mitigating 
the rigour of his exactions, and rendering the new constitution pre- 
pared for them, more congcni il to their ieelings than might other- 
wise have been the case. 

7, hi 1,&'J2, by the death of the duke of Parma, and m virtue f>f 
a previous convention with Spain, the first consul, in the name of the 
French republic, took possession of the duchies oi' Farma, Placeritia, 
antl Guasialla, and incorporated them soon alter with France. The 
only son of the tleceas'ed duke of Farma, by a Spanish princess, 
having iisrigneil to him by the treaty of Luneville, the Tuscan stales, 
under the title of the kingdom of Etruria. 

o. Though, by the above treaty, the indemnification of those 
princes, whose rights and property 'had suffered from theprogress 
of the French, seemed to be left chietly to the decision of the diet 
of tlie empire, ikionapartc ibund means to interfere to his own atl- 
vantage, favouring those most from whom he ha<l the most to fear, or 
v.ho were most likely to be subservient to his views. For the duke 
of Wirtemburgh, the landgrave of Hesse Cassel, and the margrave 
ol" Baden, he securetl the electoral dignity ; while the indeinnilica- 
tions nere proviiled lor by the secularization of many ecclesiastical 
states on the right sitlc of the Rhine. 

9. It was soon found that, by the peace of Amiens, little cordiality 
was protluced between Ihe two nations. The first consul professeil 
to be bound by that treaty only to particular specified points, and 
apfieared through his agenis, secret or avowed, to he preparing for 
a renewal of hostilities. He had some reason, it must be conlessetl, 
to be ollbndeil with the liberties taken with him in some of the pub- 
lic journals of Englaiul at this time ; and though it can scarcely be 
supposed that peace coulil he his object, yet he appears to have 



moi)]':r]n; ihstoky. 349 

been provoked and irritated by the distrust of the British govern- 
ment and nation. So early as the month of May, 1,803, the two 
conntries may be said to "have been again in a slate of war with 
each other. 

10. On this quick renewal of hostilities, the tirst consul had rt- 
com-se to a most extraordinary measure, in detaining all the Eng- 
lish who happened to have come over to France during lh(^ peace, 
for business or pleasure, as a sort of hostages for the future conduct 
of their country. He also projected a powerful invasion of Eng- 
land, which had only the effect of rousing the latter country to such 
vigorous and patriotic exertions as entirely to frustrate all his 
schemes anti intentions. A levy en nunse was proposed, subject 
to the regulations of parliament. As another act of vengeance 
against England, an army was sent to occupy Hanover, though the 
king, in his electoral capacity, had determined to remain neuter. 

11. The first consul had cow, for some time, exercised not only 
kingly, but almost despotic powex', and artfully placed himseli" in 
su«:-h"a situation of control and intiuence, with regard to all the 
public bodies, assemblies, and councils of the nation, that it is not 
to be wondered that he should have aspired to, and obtain.^d, the 
highest dignities it is in the power of a nation to bosto v ; though, 
had he acted with less prudence and poUcy, nothing certainly could 
have occurred more surprising than the undisturbed elevation of a 
Corsican adventurer to one of the most splendid thrones of Europe. 
By an organic senates consultum of the 18th of May 1,804, Buona- 
parte was declared EjuEROFt of the Frenxh. The title to be he- 
reditary, as to his immediate descendants, and, in case of failure ot 
male issue, granting him a furth.er power to adopt the children, or 
grand-children, of his brothers. All laws were to originate wilh 
the sovereign, or to be proposed in his name ; and due care was 
taken, by rendering the legislative body and ti'ibunate dependent on 
the senate, in the appointment of which the emperor was to have 
almost the whole power, to prevent the passing of any hovs contrary 
to his will. The imperial title thus conferred on liin;, was ackiiowl- 
edged by most of the states of Europe, though not by Ei gl;;nd. 

12. This assumption of the itnperial title, by Napoleon Ihiona- 
parte, and the subsequent confederation of the lUiine, led the em- 
peror of Germany, Francis II., to abdicate the Germaaic empire, and 
to change his title to that of cmjjeror of Austria, tliereby securing 
the same' hereditary honour to the house of Mapsburg, and at the 
Siime time, not entirely resigning his political relationship to the 
stales and empire of Germany. 

13. On the 2d of December, 1,804, Napoleon was crowned,' in 
the church of Notre Dame, with extra.ordinary pomp and splendour, 
having previously invited, or rather conipelkd the iiumbJed pontilf 
of Rome to be present at the ceremony, and to anoint him. His 
empress, Josephine Bcauharnois, to whom he had been some time 
married, was crowned at the sam.e tinje. 

14. One of the first acts of the new emperor was to change the 
name of the Code civil des Francais^ introduced under the consular 
government, for that of tb^ Code JS'apoleon. His U\o brolliers, 
Joseph and Lewis, and his two colleagues, le Brun and Camhaceios, 
were declared grand ele<'to}\ constable^ urch-chuncellor^ and arch-lKaS' 
urcr, of the empire ; and the dignity of mareschal was confen ed on 
the most distinguished of his generals. But, in order to give more 
Etability to his throne, or intimidate his enemies, under pretence of a 

Gg 



3.^ MODERN HISTORY. 

royaltst conspiracy, he had many eminent persons brought to trial; 
amcne other?, the two celebrated generals, Picbegru and Moreau 
The former was, scon after, found dead in his prison, nnder circum- 
stances implying litlie less than a most deliberate murder; the latter. 
an equal object of dread and alarm, and whose deatii^ was }fl-obably 
contemplated, was permitted, however, to retire to North America. 
It is scarcely credible, though it certainly appears upon record, that 
the French minister at iJeriin was directed to move the king of Frus- 
sia to deliver up the untbrtunate Lewis XVIIL, then at Warsaw, and 
to send hinr to France, to answer for the concern he was stated to 
have had in this conspiracy. 

15. Having obtained the imperial dignity in France, Napoleon ap- 
peared dissatisfied to be only president of a republic with regard To 
his Cisalpine conquests. Means were found to induce the constituted 
authorities of the new Italian repuhUc to offer to him the crown of 
i!a!y, an oiler he was quite prepared to accept, as though the whole 
of that devoted country had been already subdued. On the 26lh of 
May, 1,805, he repaired to Milan, atul taking the famous iron crown 
from the altar of the cathedral, placed it on his own head, denouncing 
vengeance against all who should dispute his i^ight to it. Having 
done this, he appointed the son of the empress Josephine, Beauhar- 
nois, to be his viceroy, and agreed, tliat upon his death the two 
crowns should be separated. Soon after he seized upon Genoa, dis- 
possessed the doge and senators of tlieir power, and decreed, that 
henceforth the territories of the Ligurian republic, as it was called^ 
should be annexed to France. These rapacious proceedings at length 
provoked a fresh confederacy against him, so that before the year 
was passed, not only England, b\it Russia, Prussia, and Austria, were 
in arms to resist his encroachments. Sweden had joined the confed- 
eracy, but retired in disgust. Such, however, was the dread of the 
power or vengeance of France, that several of the German princes, 
particularly the elector of Bavaria, sided with Napoleon, in opposi- 
tion to the emperor Francis. 

16. By sea, the power of tlie French and Spaniards combined failed 
of gaining any advantages over the allies. On the 21st of October, 
1,8U5, in the battle of Trafalgar, a complete victory was obtained by 
the British fleet, under lord Nelson, who perished in the action. 
There was a disparity in the number of ships, in favour of the French 
and Spaniards, of thirty-three to twenty-seven. On the continent, 
the course of the v-ar was very different. The king of Prussia was 
dilatory in his proceedings, and even treacherous. Sweden had 
withdrawn. The emperor Francis employed :in . inefficient com- 
mander, if not worse, (general Mack,) and the Russians, who were 
more in earnest, were baffled by the ua^^teady proceedings of their 
allies, and distressed by want of provisions, sickness, and fatigue, 
After the battle of Austerlitz, in December, the emperor of Austria, 
whose capital had been in the hands of the enemy, solicited peace, 
submitting to surrender what iigd been allotted to him of the Venetian 
territories, together with the pri-ocipaliticg of L>icca and Piombino ; 
and to acknowledge Buonaparte as king of Italy. Bavaria acquired 
a part of the Brisgav,^ and Tyrol. Such were the terms of the peace 
of Presburgh, October, 1,80-i. 

17. The succession of some of the Gerntqu states from the empe- 
ror of Austria, had, in the mean time, produced changes that require 
to be noticed. The electors of Bavaria and Wirtemburgh were 
elevated to the rank of kings of their respective countries ; and 



MODERxN HiSTOKV. 351 

Eugene Beauharnois, viceroy of Italy, son of the French empress 
Josephine, obtained in marriage the daughter ol' the new king of 
Baviiria, though she had been previously betrothed to the prince of 
Baden. 

18. The court of Naples, during this war, through the injudi- 
cious, but natural, resentment of the queen, sister to the hite un- 
fortunate queen oi" France, had the misfortune to incur the iiigh dis- 
pleasure of Napoleon, by admitting a British and Russian army to 
land on its territories. The French despot lost no time in pronounc- 
ing sentence on tlie rebellious neutral. He quickly madp it known 
that the Bourbon dynasty had ceased to reign at Naples. The royal 
family was compelled to retire to Palermo, and in a short time after, 
Napoleon conlerred the Neapolitan crown on his brother Joseph, 
much to the discontent, however, of the people, who for some time 
gave him great disturbance. Joseph was proclaimed king, March 
SO, 1,806. 

19. The emperor of the French had another kingdom in view for 
his brother Lewis, constable of France. Holland had submitted to 
several forms of government, without obtaining that order and tran- 
quillity which was supposed to be in the contemplation of those 
who directed her affairs. It was suggested that a monarchy would 
remedy all the disorders to which she was exposed ; and it was hint- 
ed, too plainly to be misunderstood, that it would be agreeable to the 
emperor, if the leading persons of the state, not the community at 
large, would give countenance to such a change. So great was the 
infatuation, or timidity, of the persons to whom these suggestions 
were made, that they did not scruple to solicit the appointment of 
the eniperoi's brother, who declared himself king of Holland ac- 
cordingly, June 5, 1,806. To the credit of the new king, it should 
be observed, that he soon fell into disgrace with his imperial brother, 
by being too lenient to his subjects, and by ende ivouring to mitigate 
the rigour of the French decrees. 

20. In the year 1,806, Napoleon succeeded in subverting the 
constitution of the German empire, by detaching many of the prin- 
cipal states, chiefly of the western and southern divisions of Ger- 
many, to Ibrm what was denominated '■'• The Confederation of the 
Rhine,''' by which the several princes consented to renounce the 
laws of the empire, to contract a federative alliance with the 
I'rench emperor, and to supply him with troops whenever he should 
demand them. In consequence of this gross defection of so many 
members, the emperor, by a solemn edict, abdicated the govern- 
ment of the Germanic empire, absolving all the electors, princes, 
and states, from the obligations by which they stood bound to him, 
as their -legitimate head ; thereby terminating, as it were, a gov- 
ernment which had subsisted for a thousand years, and been un- 
interruptedly confided to the house of Hapsburgh from the yeai 
1 ,438. 

21. It seemed as if every thing, at this time, was doomed to fall 
befoie the power of the Corsican. Prussia, which had hitherto 
acted a most unwise part, in neglecting to add its weight to the 
confederacy of 1,804, and even submitting to be cr.joled into an 
alliance with France, became, in the course of the year 1,806, sen* 
feible of lier error; but to no good purj)ose. She now precipitately 
entered into a \var for which she was ill-prepared ; with no sup- 
port but that of Saxony ; and having put her army under the com- 
mand of the duke of Brunswick, sustained two signal and almost 



S52 MODERlN^ iliSTOKY. 

fatal defeats, at Jena and Averstidt, laying the capital open to the 
advance of the enemy, who entered it in triumph ; and, Iteing too 
well received and entertained by tlic people, did not fail, as m all 
other cases, to take due advantage of thuir willing submission. In 
the course of the contest, the Saxons were detached from Prussia, 
and the duke of Brunswick being wounded, and obliged to quit his 
dominions on the advance of the French, died miserably at Altona: 
Napoleon, in resentment, meanly refusing to sutler his body lo be 
buried amongst his ancestors. 

22. It was during his sojournment in Berlin, November, 1,806, 
tiiat the French emperor dictated that extr:iordinary decree, de- 
claring ttie British islands to be in a state of bloclaule, though lie 
had no naval iorce capable of interrupting their commerce in any 
piirt of the world. By this decree, the whole trade uf Britain was 
proscribed ; no intercourse of any sort was allowed to take place ; 
ail British subjects on the continent were threatened with arrest and 
confisi,alion of property, and every port shut against English ves- 
sels, in I'russia, J?'2umark, the lianse towns, liolland, Flanders, 
France, Spaiu, Italy, &.c. 

2,3. The progress of the French, in the *.erritories of the king of 
Prussia, occasioned fresh alarm to the emperor of Russia, and to 
the British goverimient, and procured for Frederick that assistance 
which his lormer supinein ss and intrusion on the Hanoverian states 
might very reasonably have rendered hopcles?. The king of bvve- 
den was also subsidi/cd by England, to send an ai-my into Pome- 
rauia ; but all the elforts ot the allies were insnilicient to stop the 
Career of the French. The Rus.-i.u;s fought many severe battles, 
at Eylau, Friedland, &,c., but were unable to prevent the French 
getting possession of Dantzic and Konigsberg ; losses so severely 
lell by the king of Prussia, as to compel hiin to conclude a separate 
peace, as a conquered enemy ; while Napoleon, with consummate art, 
not only pcisuadod Alexander to abanilon the king of Prussia to his 
fiite, but to form an alliance with himself", for the further spoliation 
of the^ Prussian douiinions, and lo concur in arrangements very 
adverse to the general interests of Europe, and serviceable only to 
his own tamily. By the treaty of Tilsit, July, 1,B07, the emperoi 
ot tiussia agreed to acknowleilge the Rhenish contederaoy, now 
con-listing ol' many slates, and Josejih and Lc-ocis liuonaparte, as kings 
of Ntiples and Holland, lie suliered the Freiich empei'cr to conlier 
on bis yo'.aigest brother, Jerome^ with the title of king of Westpha- 
lia, the Prussian provinces between the Elbe and the Rhine, the 
stales of Hanover, and the territoi'ies of the duke of Brunsivick, and 
landgrave of flesse Cassel, while the greater part of Prussian Poland 
was given to the elector (now king) of Saxony, witli the tith'. of duke 
of Warsaw ; and by secret articles, as it has been allegeil, most of 
the usurpations of the French, in all parts of Europe, were sanc- 
tioned and con!ii-med. During. the whole of the yeai^s 1,806 and 
1,807, the German states were undergoing continual changes, 
through the overbearing tyranny of Napoleon. All the princes who 
Joined the Rheni-^h confederation were /ewarded willi lilies or ter- 
ritorial possessions; all who favoured the allies, dispossessed of 
their dotniuions, and declared enemies of France. To particularize 
tdl liiese revolutions, lew of which were permanent, would exceed 
the limits of the jn-esent ^vork. 

24. Among other acquisitions resulting Irom the treaty ot TiJsit, 
Napoleon recovered the Ionian islands. These islands, subsequent 



MODERiN" HISTUKV. S53 

to the treaty of Campo-Formio, had beeu greatly agitated and di.> 
turbed, and it seemed difficult to know what to do with them. In 
March, 1,800, however, by a convention between Russia and the 
Porte, it WHS settled that Corfu, Cephalonia, Zante, Itliaca, Cerigo 
St. Mauro, and Paxo, sliould be formed into one state, under the' 
guarantee of the contracting parties, by the name of the Ionian 
republic. By the treaty of Amiens, 1,802, Napoleon engaged to 
acknowledge the Septinsular republic ; but, by the treaty of Tilsit, 
it was restored to iiim again by Russia. This treaty, iri short, ap- 
peared to be dictated entirely by the despot of France. Prussia, 
abandoned by her Russian ally, suffered dreadfully. The king of 
Sweden refused to become a party to this memorable convention, 
and manifested a determination to resist, to the utmost, the en- 
croachments of the French ; but he had little judgment or prudence 
to direct him ; and he had not the means to contend against such an 
adversary as Buonaparte. After many inefllectual attempts to save 
Stralsund, and keep his army in Pomerania, he was at length 
compelled to retire, with the loss both of Stralsund and the isle of 
Rugen. 



SECTION XVII. 
SPA N AND PORTUGAL FROM 1,788 TO 1,814. 

1. These two countries are by nature so connected, that though 
their interests are, and generally have been, very different, and 
*he people little disposed to friendly associations, yet, with regard 
to the affairs of Europe, they have very commonly been involved 
in the same troubles, and never long permitted to enjoy tranquillity, 
while the leading powers of the continent have been engaged in war. 
This has been already sufhciently manifested in the history of these 
two contiguous kingdoms, during the former part of the eighteenth 
century, but has been rendered still more conspicuous by the eVents 
of the subsequent years. 

2. Charles IV'. of" Spain, came to the crown in December, 1,788. 
when the French revolution was just beginning ; and it was not till 
some few years after, and in the midst of the reign of terror, that 
his kingdom became involved in the disturbances of that great catas- 
troph.e. The Spaniards, in Ht^ year 1,793, offended with the vio- 
lence offered to the royal family of France, had invaded the latter 
country, and taken the town of Bellgarde, little foreseeing the 
speedy and severe reprisals to which they were exposing them- 
selves. Early in the year 1,794, the French, under general Dugom- 
mier, invaded' Spain, and succeeded, not only in beating the Spanish, 
army, but in securing the occupation of many places of importance. 
These successes were not only available to the restoration of peace 
with Spain, but procured for the French, by the treaty of 1,795, the 
Spanish portion of the valuable island of St. Domingo, in the West 
indies, and, in 1,796, an alliance with the Spanish monarch against 
England, — an alliance fatal to Spain in many respects ; her fleet be- 
ing beaten by the English in battle, ofli" the cape of St. Vincent, the 
island of Trinidad taken from her, and retained by Great Britain 
at the peace of Amiens, and her commerce crippled and impeded 
in all parts of the world. 

3. Though she sought, by a large subsidy to France, to be pet- 

Ge2 46 



■ 854 MODEiliN illbTOKV. 

mitted to remain neuter, after the renewal of the war in 1,803, yet 
she was not long allowed to be at peace. In 1,801, the English, sus- 
picious of her close connc xion with Franco, seized upon some of her 
treasure ships, coming from South America, with a suddenness judg- 
ed by many to be not strictly justitiable ; and, in 1,805, war was Ibrm- 
ally declared against Great Britain. But in tins new war she was 
agiun doomed to suffer misfortune, her fleet being totally beaten by 
lord Nelson, on the 1st of October, 1,805, in the celebrated battle off 
cape Trafalgar. (See Sect. XVI., § 16.) 

4. During the year l,80t;, Spain appeared disposed to break with 
France, had any misiortune befallen the latter power ; but her suc- 
cesses in Prussia .seem to have intimidated Spain, and to have in- 
duced her, in 1,807, through the manoeuvres of Godoy, the Spani.'^h 
minister, who had a view to the principality of Algarves, to enter 
into a regular treaty with France, for the partition ol' Portugal. 

5. Hitherto the latter country, since the elevation of Buonaparte 
to the chief magistracy, had been suffered to remain neuter. Ihe 
reigning queen having been declared insane, the power had devolved 
to the prince of Brazil, crown prince, in 1,799, who, in virtue of his 
purchased neutralit}^, had been able to keep his commercial relations 
with England, unmolested by the French, till the treaty just mention 
ed between the latter power and Spain. 

6. France was not long in availing herself of the permission she 
had obtained to march an army through Spain, for tlie subjugation of 
Portugal. Having made demands on the I'cgent of Portugal, with 
which he could not, in honour, comply, it was declared that the house 
of Braganza had ceased to reign ; and, shortly afterwards, the French 
army, under general Junot, pa.ssed the frontiers. In these extremi- 
ties, instigated by the English, the royal family determined to embark 
for America. They set sail on the 21st of November, 1,807; and, 
on the 30th, Junot, with his army entered Lisbon. 

7. The state of Spain, at this period, was undoubtedly «uch 
as to encourage the most ambitious vieivs of the French emperor. 
Nothing could exceed the weakness of the court of Madrid, or the 
confusion of the nationul affairs. At the very moment of the parti- 
tion treaty, the hereditary prince, Ferdinand, who had refused to 
marry the ministers sister-m-huv^ on the suggestion of the court, 
was arrested, imprisoned, and threatened with a criminal prosecution, 
for having secretly sought a matrimonial alliance with Buonaparte^s 
family. 'Phis was followed by disturbances, and the imprisonment 
of the obnoxious mudster, Godoy, duke of Alcudia, and, since the 
convention of 1,795, generally called the " prince of peace." 
Charles iV., harassed and distressed by these tuniults, was induccMi, 
on the 19th of March, 1,808, to resign his crown in f.ivonr of his 
son, now become Ferdinand Vll. ; but he soon alterwawjs revoked 
his abdication, as forced upon him, and extorted by the ilre;ui of 
personal violence. Nothing could be more directly calculated to 
promote the views of Buonaparte than these divisions, whose con- 
stant policy it was, in all cases of premeditated conquest, to promote 
dissension, in order to be called in as an arbitrator or mediator, 
which was the case in this instance. After Buonaparte hail been 
baffled in his hopes of compelling the king and queen to emigrate, 
through the resistance of the people of S{)ain to such a measure, 
the whole royal family were invited to repair to Bayonne, to confer 
on the state of afil^irs ; an invitation the most insidious, but which 
bad its eftect. On the 14th oi" April Buonaparte arrived there; Fer- 



MODERN HISTORY. 355 

dinand on the 20th, and en the I si of May, Chailes IV. and his queen, 
after the favourite, Godoy, liad been released, on their application to 
Bi'onaparle. 

i]. The transactions at Bayonne exceeded almost every thing to 
be met with in any preceding history. The persons invited were 
exactly those whom Buonaparte would have been glad to have seen 
driven into his toils • in this case they were weak enough to go 
thither of their own accord. Having the two kings completely in 
his power and beyond the frontier of Spain, he compelled Cluuie? 
to resume his authority, on purpose that he might resign it into the 
hands of the French, proposing, on the terms of an equivalent else- 
where, a similar act of renunciation on the part of Ferdinand; 
which the latter indignantly refusing, was at once declared to be 
excluded from all he had, and all he might have had, and even 
threatened with the loss of liberty. This so intimidated the degrad- 
ed prince, that at length he unconditionally resigned his royal digni- 
ty, tirst into the hands of his father, and through hnn, into those of 
Buonaparte, who soon obtained, though in a manner the most extra- 
ordinary, the consent of most of the principal personages of the state, 
as weil as of the constituted^ authorities, to the appointment of his 
brother Joseph, then king of Naples, to the vacant Spanish throne, 
and to render it hereditary in tlie lamily of the usurper, hi the 
mean while, Ferdinand was sent to \';i'.;uii:''v. ;irid afterwards to Fon- 
tainebleau, as a prisoner, and Cliaiii'< ;!ii;i iw-. queen iu Compieguc : 
their joint abdication of the Spani>i] croivu \vas publicly anuDiinced 
at Madrid on the 20th of May, to the great disgust of the Spanish 
people in general, who soon resolved to be re\'enged for the horrid 
indignities they were n)ade to undergo. 

9. In the course of the very month in which all the transactions 
at Bayonne took place, and Joseph Buonaparte entered the cai'ital 
of Spain as king, the national resentment was manifested by a gen- 
eral rising, and insurrection in all the principal provinces; but it 
was lirst in Andalusia that any thing like an organized gONernment 
was formed for the conduct of the war, on the part of the patiiols; 
there, 'a provincial junta, or council of magistrates, inhabitiuit«, 
and constituted authoriiies, was Ibimed, at &^•lL^, which, led to 
other conventions of the same nature, in places least molested by 
the p-rench, and in all of these Ferdinand VII. was [<roci;ii!Hed khij^-, 
and war openly denounced against the French, accompanied with 
proclamations and nianiiestoes, higlily credilrdde to the good sense, 
spirit, ardour, and patiioiisni of the Spanisli nation, ;ind expressed 
in terms very difleix'nt lium the iangnaa;;' to which llie (M'enrh ty- 
rant had been accu-tomrd. Jo-eph" i lu.iiKii/iirle, eii(e..'.l :-:>:!ii; en 
the 9th of Jniy, Ifioi^, eM:orted hy feui' iiioii-.md iiaii.ui (i-.m'i,., and 
followed by upwards of one Inuulred caniaKe-, rcii\e\ii!i; liis sidle 
and the members of the junta as.-.enil/ied at ilaviiine. io assist at his 
iriauguration. He was ill received, or rather sullrnlv li'eale<! by tlie 
inhabitants, on his passage to the capital. Joseph entered l\iadrid 
on the 20th of July ; at which very time the Spaiuards obtained an 
important victory over a French amy inarcldng upon Cadiz, which 
svere compelled to capitulate to the amount of Iburteen tbaiisand 
men, while the French tleet at Cadiz was seizeil by the vi^iilance 
and activity of don Thomas Morla. These successes on tiiO part 
of the Spaniards, compelled the new king to retire from the capital 
to Burgos, after plundering the treasury and securing the crown 
jewels. 



356 MOJjEi(i\ HiilXDHir. 

10. In the mean while, it was soon discovered that the aid of 
other powers would be wanted, in order to rescue the kingdom and 
peuinsuUi from the grasp of Napoleon. Application was accordingly 
made to the court of London, to the Swedes, and to the Portuguese 
and Austrians The formei- paid a ready and willing attention to 
the call ; and the whole British nation evinced, in an extraordinary 
manner, the utmost desire to render effectual assistance to Spain, 
whose cause seemed to he justly interesting to every friend of freedom. 

11. While these things were passing in Spain, a similar spirit 
had arisen in Portugal, against the tyranny and usurpations of the 
French ; and the arrival of a British army, in the month of August, 
under sir Arthur Wellesley, (after\vards duke of Wellington,) gave 
timely effect to these patriotic movements. The relief of Portugal 
was sooner accomplished than proved to be the case afterwards 
with Spain. On the 21st of August a decisive battle took place at 
Vimiera, between the French and combined armies of English and 
Portuguese ; in wliich the former were so entirely beaten as to be 
obliged to evacuate the country ; and which they were enabled to 
do, by a convention concluded at Cintra, under circumstances consid- 
ered far too favourable, by Europe in general, and which was re- 
sented by the people of England. 

12. Tiie evacuation of Portugal, however, at all events, set an 
army free for the use of Spain, which, at the latter end of the 
month of October, to the aniount of twenty thousand men, entered 
that coimtry, under the command of sir John Moore; the emperor 
Napoleon having quitted Paris just about the same time, to take 
ihe command of the French arniy there. Unfortunatelj, the state 
of Spain at the moment of this th'st attempt on the part ol England, to 
give aid to the patriots, was such as greatly to embarrass the British 
commander: he had been taught (or rather, the government at home 
nad been so) to expect a strenuous co-operation on the part of the 
Spaniards; ia which he was exceedingly disappointed, while he 
continually received advice of the augmentation of the French 
forces, to an amount far exceeding all his calculations : nor did he 
consider even his own army so well-appointed as to enable him 
to contend, in the heart of the kingdom, whither he was directed to 
proceed, with any fair probability of success. He was evidently 
dispirited with the prospect before him ; and though a perfectly 
hr; ve officer, felt himself so ill-supported i)y the Spaniards, at least, 
by those who directed the public affairs, (if not even deceived and 
hetrayed,) ami so embarrassed l)y want of money and other supplies, 
as to be com.pelled to retire. The retreat of his army, though un- 
happily disgraced by many irregularities and disorders amongst the 
soldiery, was conducted, in the face of the enemy, (Buonaparte him- 
self being sometimes present,) with singular courage and dexterity, 
till ihey reached Corunua, where, at last, the transports not being 
arrived, an action with the pursuing army took place, which 
terminated in favour of the English, though with the loss of the gal- 
lant, but unlbrtunate, commander, whose death was greatly lamented. 
Alter this action, on the arrival of the transports, the English troops 
c.iiuarRed without molestation, and on the 18th of January, 1,809, 
set sail for England. 

13. Before sir John Moore finally determined upon retiring, he 
had learned that Buonaparte had recovered possession of the capi- 
lal, which, after the departure of Joseph, the patriots had endeav- 
oured to fortify and defend ; but it was surrendered to the enemy 



■ MODERN iilbTOilY. Sbl 

early in the month of December, 1,003, bj the leir.jjarary governor, 
Don Thomas Morla. Spain was fiir from being subdued at the close 
of the year 1,808, though the aspect of things was alarming, and 
the French extrem.ely confident of success. Joseph re-entered 
Madrid, in great pomp, in January, 1,809. In the mean time. Napo- 
leon had decreed that tiie inquisition should be abolished, many mon- 
asteries .suppressed, and the feudal privileges abrogated. 

14. After the affair of Corunna, the Fi-ench army under general 
Soult, ((lake of Dalmatia,) invaded Portugal again, and was able 
to get possession of Oporto; while another army, under general 
Victor, threatened Lisbon. It was at this moment that fresh troops 
arrived from England, under the command of sir Arthur Wellesiey, 
who quickly recovered Oporto, and then turning against Victor, 
once more relieved Portugal from the presence of the French, lu 
June he entered Spain, and by tiie 20th of July was in a situation 
to threaten Madrid ; on the 27th and 28th, at Talavera del Reyna, 
he was attacked by the French under Joseph Buonaparte, assisted 
by four marshals; but was nhle, in conjunction with the Spaniards, 
after a very hard fought battle, to repel them with great loss. 
Though this victory was not attended with any immediate advan- 
tages,^\nd would appear to have been rather rashly hazarded, the 
British general, for his great skill and conduct during the actioiij 
was raised to the peerage by the title of viscount Wellington ot 
Talavera. 

15. Though a central junta had been appointed in 1,808, to give 
consistency and strength to the proceedings of the patriots, they 
were still ill-prepared either to contend against the enemy alone^, 
or conjointly with the British. In the battle of Talavera, and after- 
wards, their movennents had rather embarrassed than assisted the 
operations of the latter. It would have been well if the Spaniards, 
from the first, could ]:iave been prevailed upon to appoint lord Wel- 
lington generalissimo of all the forces acting against the French. 
'I'he latter, however, were much harassed by a sort of desultory 
war, carried on by ,^-uerill(i parties, who intercepled their supplies, 
and without attempting any regular engagement, (for which, indeed, 
they were unfit,) were continually attacking tliem in the way of 
ambuscade and surprise ; for which their superior knowledge of the 
country evidently gave them great advantages. 

16. It is not to be wondered that the extraordinary situation of 
Spain should occasion great embarrassment in the management of 
the war. In the place of the supreme central junta of 1,808, a 
regency had been appointed, and the cortes assembled, but without 
sunicient eliect. The Spanish armies acted without system, and the 
nation at large manifested a jealousy of their English allies, which 
prevented such a co-operation as might ha^•e brought the whole under 
one command, to the evident advantage of the cause, in which they 
must have been, thougli with different degrees of zeal and judgment, 
equally interested. This distrust on the part of the Spaniards ex- 
posed "them also, it is to be feared, to treatment tar from conciliatory 
iin the part of the English- The war which was renewed betv/eeh 
France and Austria, in 1,009, drew the attention of Napoleon in 
some degree from Spain: but those difl'erences being soon adjusted, 
early in the year 1,810, powerful reinforcements weit sent from 
France to the Peninsula, to reconquer Portugal, and " drive the Eng- 
lish into the sea." Wluit has been said of Spain is by no means ap- 
plicable to Portugal : in the lattei' country, not only a better spirit 



358 MODERN HiriTORY. 

was manifested, but the army being placed under British command, 
and regularlj' organized, by general lord Beresford, was soon render- 
ed capable of afibrding very effectual aid and assistance. 

17. During the whole of the years 1,810 and 1,811, (he contend- 
ing armies were occupied in striving to gain advantages over each 
other, which called forth ;ill the sldll and jutlgment appertaining 
to the science of war. The detail, however, of the several actions 
which took place, of the investment and capture of the stri)ng holds 
of the two portions of the Peninsula, do not belong to such a work 
as the present. It was not till the summer of 1,812, and after the 
victory gained by lord Wellington over the French under marshal 
Marinont. in the battle of Salamanca, tliat the total expulsion of the 
French, and overthrow of the throne oi' .loseph, became a matter of 
little doubt. The battle of Salamanca may be said to have opened 
the gates ot" Madrid once more to the patriots and allied army, and 
restored the Spanish crown to Ferdinand. The battle was Ibught on 
the 22d of July. On the 30th, lord Wellington entered Valladolid, 
the enemy retiring before him; and on the 12tli of August, Madrid 
surrendered to the Brilish arms. Joseph and hi; suite having pre- 
viously quitted it. Lord WeUington was received in the capital with 
the acclamations justly due to the lil)erator of Spain ; but had the 
Spaniards themselves used ttic exertions they might have done, 
'^Napoleon being at this time engaged in Russia,) the Feninsula 
might probably have been sooner delivered from the French, after 
the recovery ot the capital, than proved to be the case. 

18. The "latter made a stand at Burgos, \vhich was invested by 
the English, but after a siege of more than a month, abandoned with 
considerable loss ; the British forces being once more obliged to re 
tire as tar as Ciudad Rodrigo, on tiie frontiers of Portugal. The 
Spaniards, however, at length appeared to be roused to a proper 
sense of their situation, and wisely coniided to lord Wellington the 
termination of this protracted war. In December, 1,812, he was 
appointeii generalissimo, and distinguished by extraordinary powers. 

19. It seemed now to be practicable to end, by a decisive ac- 
tion, the contest for the possession of Spain ; and lord Wellington 
lost no time in seeking the opportunily. He took the field in the 
middle of the month of May, 1,313, and on the 21st of June, brought 
the enemy to action on the plains of Vittoria. Never was a vie 
tory more decisive than the one obtained at this time by the com- 
bined British, Portuguese, and Spanish armies. Joseph and his 
troops were compelled to quit the field with such extreme precipi- 
tation, as to leave behind them tifty pieces of artillery, two thousand 
carriages of different descriptions, stores, provisions, and vx. Immense 
booty, consisting chiefly of the plunder of Madrid, fortunately rescued 
•ipon this occasion from the usurper, who was present, and very 
narrowly escaped. 

20. After the battle of Vittoria, and the fall of the strong towns 
of St. Sebastian and Fampeluna, the British, Portuguese, and Span 
ish troops crossed the Bidassoa, and entered France. Early in 
March, the city of Bordeaux freely opened her gates to general 
Beresford, in the name of Lewis XV HI., at the same time admitting 
the king's nephew, tlie duke of Angouleme. On the 10th of April, 
tlie Brilish stormed the French entrenchments neai Thoulouse. On 
the 12lh, general Soult filed out of the town, under the muzzles of 
the British guns. On the 13ih, news arrived of the abdication oi 
Buonaparte, and the entrance of the allied sovereigns into Paris. 



MODERN HISTORY. 359 

It is con.iectured that the French commander knew of these things 
before, hut in the hope of gaining some advantage over the invaders 
of France, concealed it. 

21. Before the allies reached Paris, Napoleon had released Fer- 
dinand VII , whose return to Spain was, however, rendered very 
nnaccepiable to many who had espoused his cause in his absence, 
particularly the members of the regency and existing cortes, with 
whose proceedings, in regard to the new constitution proposed for 
his acceptance, he expressed himself extremely displeased ; they 
had previously refused to acknowledge a treaty concluded l)y FciyIi- 
nand with Buonaparte. He threw "himself also into the hands of 
tliose who were friends to the ancient system, which, with extreme 
bigotry, he endeavoured to re-establish in its worst forms. From 
that time to the present the nation has been kept m a state of con- 
siderable ferment and confusion. By a revolution in March, 1,820, 
the cortes were restored, and the free constitution of 1,812 pio- 
claimed and sworn to by the king. The inquisition also was tlnally 
abolished: but the effects of these last movements remain to be 
proved. 

22. The old king, Charles iV., died at Home, in 1,819. The bat- 
tle of Vittoria, which relieved Spain from the presence of the 
French armies, restored i^ortugal to her former independence. On 
the 2Uth of March, 1,81(5, the queen, Maria Isabella, died ; and wag 
succeeded by the present king, John VI., who had been regent 
since 1,799, the seat of government being still at Rio de Janeiro, in 
IJrazil. 



SECTION XVIII. 

V'RANCE, FROM THE PEACE OF TILSIT, TO THE ABDICATION 
OF NAPOLEON 1,814. 

1. The treaty of Tilsit left Napoleon at liberty to pursue his career 
of vengeance and usurpation in other countries. He obtained by it 
such an inlhience over Russia, Austria, and Prussia, as to mduce 
them to break with England, without any other reason ; and as soon 
as he had thus disposed of matters in those quarters, he turned his 
views lo the Spanish peninsula, where a Bourbon dynasty still ex- 
isted. In three months after the signing of tlio treaty of Tilsit, be 
concluded the famous partition-treaty wifh Spain, already spoken of, 
in virtue of which, French troops were to be allowed to pass into 
Portugal, for the sacritice of that ancient kingdom; and aflerwanls. 
no doubt, in the views and designs of t!ie French emperor, of ^y.iiii 
itself 

2. Of his subsequent invasion and occupation of both counlric;!;!, 
and of the war for several years carried on, betorc he cotd ! ho 
compelled to renounce his usurped dominion in Spain, an account 
is given in the preceding section. On the 17th of JJecember, 1,807, 
in the same spirit of resentment against Great Britam, which had 
dictated the celebrated decree of Berlin^ declared the British isles 
to be in a stiite of blockade, the French emperor issued another 
decree, at Milan, (in consequence of the British retaliatory orders 
of council, November 21st,) by which every ship which should 
submit to be visited by the English, or consent to any pecuniary 



S60 sTODEu:; ll^tory. 

exactions u'hatsoever, should bo liable to confiscation as fi Ifi^vfiil 
prize ; but his vengeance fell hardest upon Portugal, whose com- 
(nerciai and political relations with England so exasperated him, 
■hat, in an audience given to the Ibreign ministers at Fontainebleau, 
le openly declared, that if the regent of Portugal did not, within 
uvo months confoira to the continental system, and totally renounce 
lis connexions with England, the house of Braganza should cease to 
teign. Such was the haughty language of this extraordinary man, 
til i!ie face of Europe, after tl;c convention at Tilsit ! 

3. In a thw days after this denunciation of the Portuguese dy 
nasty, the regent closed his ports against English ships of ail descrip- 
tions, but not in time to stop the French armies, who pressed so 
closely upon him, tiiat on the 29th of November, (see the prccedintj 
section,) he was obliged to quit his European dominions for Rio Ja- 
neiro, in the Brazils, and on tlie very next day Lisbon was occupied 
by Fi'ench troops under generril Junol. 

4. The short-lived kingdom of Etruria was brought to an end 
•about this time; and the tiueen-regent, late duchess of Parma, 
with the king, her son, obliged to depart for Spain, her native 
country. 

5. In March, 1,808, a decree was passed in France, ordaining the 
renewal of titles of honour, princes, dukes, counts, &,c., and cre- 
ating a new order of hereditary nobility, as essential to an heredi- 
trtry monarch. About the same time, Joseph Buonaparte was re- 
moved from ISTaples, and made king of Spain ; and Joacliim Mui-at, 
grand duke of Berg, married to the sister of Napoleon, was declared 
king of Naples. 

G. The kingdoms of Naples and Italy being thus entirely in the 
i;ands of Buonliparte, in order to prevent their communication from 
being interrupted by any hostile power, he seized upon the pope's 
temporalities, icr which Pius V'l. ventured to excommunicate him. 
He had the audacity to remind the pope, in thus despoiling him, 
that the kingdom of Christ ^vas not of this woild ; though the only 
reason alleged for what he hud done, was, that Pius had refused to 
declare war againsl England; a iViendly power, and one from whicii 
the pope declared he had never received the smallest injury. 

7. On the 9th of April, 1,809, war was renewed with Austria, 
and so rapid was the progress of the French, that after three severe 
actions at'Abensberg.y Eckmuhl, nr.d Piatisbon, Vienna was compelled 
to capitulate on the 12th of iMay. The A-istaans, afterwards, under 
the archduke Charles, gained 'some advantages over Buonaparte ; 
but, before the autumn was passed, a peace was concluded, at Vien- 
na, extremely humilitating to Francis II. To France he was obliged 
to cede the liiyrian provinces; to Bavaria, Saltzburg; to Saxony, 
the whole of West Gallicia; and to Russia, East Gallicia; be uas, 
moreover, compelled to accede to the continental system against 
England, and to acknowledge Joseph Buonaparte as king of Spain. 

8. But as if these concessions were not sufficient to mortily the 
pride of the head of the empire, and representative of the house of 
Mapsburgh and Lorraine, the French emperor, to the surprise of 
Europe, demanded and obtained in marriage the daughter of Fran- 
cis U., the archduchess Maria Louisa, having previously been, with 
great form, divorced from the empress Josepliine, with her own 
consent, for the express purpose of Ibrming a connexion of higher 
hopes, and aflbrding a prospect of an heir to his newly acquired im- 
perial dominions. The marriage took place at Paris, April 2, 1,810. 



MODERN HISTORY. 361 

9. Intent ui)on providing for every branch of his family, the 
gmnil duchy of Tuscany was revived by Napoleon, in 1,81)9, and 
Conferred on his sister Lliza^ princess of Lucca and Piombino, 
The grand duchy of Berg, vacated by the removal of his brother- 
in-law, Joachim Alnrat, to the th.rone ot' Naples, was given to ]>ouis, 
his nephew, son of the king of Holland ; and on the 17th of May 
the pope's temporalities were declared to be incorporated with tlie 
Kreiich dominions, and the title of king of Rome'approi)riated to the 
imperial prince, heir to the French empire. The situation of the 
papal territories, between the kingdoms of Italy and Naples, was 
such as in hostile hands might he made use of to intercept the com- 
munication between the two ; and therefore the pope, who appeared 
friendly to England, was of necessity to be despoiled of his domin- 
ions, but to receive a revenue of two millions of francs.^ The new 
constitutional government was to be in lull activity and force on the 
1st of January, 1,810. On the 14th of January, 1,810, the elector- 
ate of Hanover- was annexed to the dominion of the emjperor''s 
bmtiier, Jerome, king of Westphalia; and on the 20th of March, 
],81 1, Napoleon was gratified with the hirth of a son, who, accord- 
ing to the arrangements already spoken of, was immediately digni- 
fied with the title of king of Rome. 

10. In Jnne, 1,812, Napoleon, offended with some parts of the 
conduct of the emperor of Russia, Avho had begun to appreciate 
more justly the character of the artful and ambitious Corsican, 
once more declared war against him, having influence, besides, to 
prevail upon. Prussia and Austria to join him. His advance towards 
the Russian dominions was most rapid ; but, considering the distance 
to which he was can \ii;g I'.is army, and the inveterate lir.tred and 
indignation he had excited by Ids bold threats against his imperial 
adversary, his subjects, and his empii-e, extremely rash. His power, 
it is true, was immense, 4UO,UliO, inliuitry, tiO.OUO cavalry, and 1,200 
pieces of artillery : (jlermans, Folanders, Dutch, Swiss, Italians, 
Sf^aniards, and Portuguese, being numbered amongst his lroo]JS ; 
but nothing could exceed the anger and resentment of the Rus- 
sians. 

11. On the 9lhofMay the French ruler left St. Cloud; on the 
24Ui of June he crossed tlie Niemen, and on the 14th of September 
attrJncd his gnuid object of entering the capital of the Muscovite 
dominions. Rut his reception was liir from Lieing such as he ex- 
pected, or such as he ha^l met with in other capitals. The c'ty was 
tired hy order o{ the governor, and by the hands of the enraged iu- 
hal>itanls; and the French had only ruins to occupy, in a latuude lo 
which they were totally unaccustomed, aiid with all the horrors of 

bil>erian winter helbre them, ^ 

12. On the lOth of October, after having solicited an armistice, 
and proposed peace, both 'of which were peremptorily refused. 
Buonaparte cind Ids disappointed army began their dieary and 
perilous march biick to Fiance. Nothing could exceed the ditli- 
cuUies and distresses to which they were exposed, from the severi- 
ties of the weather and climate, and the attacks of the Russians, 
trom IWoscow to the capital of Lithuania, uhere they arrived on 
(he IClh of December. On the fiih, the emperor Napoleon totally 
abandoned Ins harassed army to its fate, having quitted it at Smor- 
gonie in disguise; destroyed the bridges by which he passed, regard- 
less of those he left behind ; and traversing Poland and Germany, 
made the best of his way to Paris, where lie airived at miduight, 

Hh 46 



362 MODERN iilSTORV. 

December 18, h;uing lost, or rather sacrillced, upwards of 150,(KMi 
tiion. iiichidini;; prismiers, U)7,r)iJ(). 

iJ. H vva-- iiaturitlly exi)eclc'(l (hat this lolai ilelVat el all liii 
proji-cis in regard to l'v»l^sia, tog^Hlicr wiili tlie iiiisoraliiL' co!ulitio!'i at 
ins army when it re.iohed the <;oi)tiiies ot" rraiice, unuld have lerini- 
nattui Ills giddy career el pride and ainbiiion : iiuf in lhi« the \v< rid 
was deceived. In the Ibllouiag year, he eagei-ly resnnied hosiiliiies', 
bat ma-iiresliy to great disadvantage. Thoiia;h' he was readily i\ir- 
id'hi^d ullh a iVesli army, amounting to ;jr>U,OiJU men, lie had .soon 
ojiixjsed to him not only Ku.ssia, bnt Anslri<i, Prussia, and Swed'.n, 
^\^usidi/.ed l»y England. Several of t!ie coid^djrates of the liliine 
ventured to abandon his cadse ; ,and it Ijecame very apparent that 
the allied pouens were more in earnest and more uiut:.'d now thafi 
oa any Ibrmer occasion. Many bailies were ronglil \'.\ ihe course of 
Ibij suinm n-, with douiHful success, liil, at last, the great '" llaitie of 
rNilious," as it has iitly onougli been caiied, look f>lace at Leiji^ig, 
in >v!)icli the Krencli sustained so signal a defeat, as seemed evi lentiy 
to progiioslicate the ruin and discomtiture of tiie great tlisturber of 
Europe. Tiiis celebrated batlle, or succession of engagements, 
took place on the 16tb, 18th, and 19tb days of October. Leip/.ig 
w IS taken oidy two hours af'er Buonaparte had eliecled his esciipc. 
i'ije king of ,'5axony and all his court wam captured by the aides; 
a French gairison of oU.UOO men, besides 2".^,UUU sick and woundedj 
with the French magazines, ariiliery, and .stores. The emperor ot 
iiu-isia, th(,' king of Prussia, and crown pri.ice of S<vederi, ea<:li at 
the head of their respective troops, made their entry into the town 
al diilerent points, afttw the engagemeni of the lUth, and met in the 
<^reat square, amidst the universal acclamations of the people. 
Ju.-t before tlte b.tlile of Leipzig, the allies (F'rived great advantage 
frv)m the defection of the kings of Bavaria and Wirlemberg., and tne 
grand duke of Baden, from the cause of France, and the consequent 
junciion of 55,01)0 of the Bavarian troops; and during the action of 
llie 18th, a parly of tiie Saxons, bringing with them 22 gims, desert- 
ed to the crowB prince of Swetlen, and desired to be led directly 
against the l'iv«»<*i. So much was the aspect of things changed with 
regard to the destinies «[ Buonaparte, who, on his return to Faris, 
had but too mucii reason to declare, (as he did in his speech to the 
senate on the 14th of Kovemher.) '•S-Vil Europe was wilh us-a yeui" 
ago, — all iiiu'ope is now against e.s.^'' 

14. The immediate consequences of the'victory at Leipzig were, 
the dissolution of the new-erected kingdom of Westphalia, and (he 
grand duchies of Berg and Frankfort. The dukes of lirunswick 
and Hesse Cassel recovered their domiiuons, and the prince of 
Orange was not merely restored io his stadtholderale in llollami, 
but |>ror,laiined sovereign of the United Nelherlands. On the i'd ot 
J)ecember, 1,813, the allies passed the llhine; (he southern Ironiier 
of the Pyrenees iiaving been invaded by the Brili.sli and Forluguese 
in Octoi)er preceding. 

15. Though (our great armies of the allies were now within (he 
territories of France, their work was not accomplished. The 
French generaU, and Buonaparte himself, who, in a very aflecting 
maiiner, quilted Paris on the i:5lh of January, 1,814, iiilerrupted 
the progress of tlie Kussians. Prussian«, anil Anstrians, endeavoured 
to prevent, in every way Ih.^y couh', their advance upon the canital ; 
but ill! their exertions proved vain, though the attainment ol' that 
great object was deferrtSi for some months. It was not till the SJst 



MODEim HISTORY. 3C3 

day of March, that their ti-iiimjih nmy bo ?;ii(! to have been ccmplet- 
e(l': on dial day the emperor ol' iii;^;.-!,i -.nul llie Ling i^l' Fru.S'^ia, at 
llu; head d' tin "ir i r-;;' < !i". ^' ;i!-n,i -, iMil<M-c'ii i'iiiisin llie most solemn 
aiiil i'ii[.nsi.ig i;i.i!i:i ;■. ■ -i: ii. ■ J 1 -^i' \|iiii. inioii.iparle was roi-jiiaily 
(k-j.ose.l i'> 111.' .-. n.ii ■. ..;... ■ i; li;.' i Hi: l.c wa- iHMiiiilled lo alxlicale, 
npcii leriiis j:algr(l l\ iii;iny lo lie liir loo ta\ ourahk'. ]le \\;i> al- 
liuved io roiise lo h'Aln\. (a le-i.hiice ol' lii^ own oiuiice,) redlining his 
U)iji»'i-i .1 lilies, ami lia\ i.ig thai i-laiid ami il- deia^ndeiicics assij^ned lo 
him a^ son ei->-i.;i!. \\ iih n i\v(aiue oi" Iwo millions of Iraiics. The dia.'h- 
ies ol' t'.ii-fn.i,Liii;i>l:ili;i, ;iiid Piacen!i;i, were at ihe same time . secured 
to the eiiijircs-i M uii Loids^i, jiiid her d.'sceiidiuils, and pioxision 
made lor all hi< other r.'lations. Buonaparti', having t''"<'\i')nsl_v had 
a j»nard ajipointed, set onl on the 2Ulh for the seat ot' his new and 
very reduced doniiiiions, much exposed occasionally on his passage to 
popular rese-:iln)(.'iil. 

lu. On tiie ihc entrance of tlie allies, they were careful in their 
m.inifesloes lo distingui.-h between the French people, or nalion at 
iari^e, aiki the lyi'ant whom they had conspired to overthrow ; and 
evinced the strongest '.lisposili'ii to bury in oblivion, with bec.mung 
magnanimity and torhe;ir.mce, the numberless insults and injuries 
they had n;ceived at llu; hands nl' the !• lench, while under the do- 
minion of their now prostrate Ibe. They took no steps to force upon 
tliem the exiled family, but left the settlement of their government 
and consiilution entirely to the senate and provisional administration. 
Tiie Bourbons had been proclaimed in the south, and the count 
d'Artoi- appeared at Paris on the loth of April; but the recal of 
tlie king was the work of the French themselves, as we shall have 
occasion to observe in a subsequent section. 



SECTION XIX. 

POLAND, FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF TIIE EIGH- 
TEENTH CENTURY TO THE TREATY OF VIENNA, 1,815. 

1. No country in Europe has suffered more from a faulty constitu- 
Uon thati the kingdom of Poland. No country has afforded more 
'convincing proofs of the mischiefs appertaining to an elective mon- 
archy, the constant source not only of internal commotions, calnd, 
and intrigue, but the occasion generally, upon every vacaricy, ot 
foreign interference. At no era did Poland sufter more, perhaps, 
from tliis combinalion of evils, l[ \n tovvai'ds the commencement 
of the eighteenth century ; nor has she ever since been able lo re- 
cover her inde})endence. The arbitrary, though not unprovoked, 
proceedings of Charles XII. of Sweden, in l,7Uk when he deposed 
Augustus, and insisted upon placing Stanislaus on the throne, in despite 
of Austria and Russia, plainly showed how little power a divided 
counti-y possesses against the encroachments of an ambitious neigh- 
bom-, and how naturally the inlerl'erence of one such neighbour 
exposes the invaded country lo similar measures on the part of 
others; for Augustus himself had been previously forced upon the 
Poles by Kussia. From the above period lo the present day Pojarid 
has hnen exposed lo a continual recurrence of such events; audio 
promote the views of a combination of foreign potentates, kept in a 
state of internal disunion and distraction, constantly favourable to 
their ambitious designs. 



S64 M0DE5IN HISTORY. 

2. Augustus, elector of Saxony, who was deposed in 1,704, and 
compelled form:iily to abdicate the Hirone hy tiie treaty ot" All- 
Ranstadt, in 1,706, was restored l>y the assistance of liussia, after 
the battle oi Fultawa in 1,709, and reigned for the space of l\vet)(y- 
four years, dying in 1,753. (Sect. I.) liis reign was fir from being 
an happy one : he offended the Poles by the intnxhiction of Saxon 
troops, and by residing too nnnch away t'rom them in his electoral 
dominions : he lived in the mid it of tactions and consi)iracies, being 
continually at war with the dissiilcnts ov anii-catholics^ while he totally 
failed in his endeavours to render himself absolute, or the crown he- 
reditary in his family. 

3. The war which arose upon the death of Augustus, has been 
already noticed. Had the Poles been wise enongii to remedy that 
great defect in tlieir constitution, which rendered the crown elec- 
(ive, they could not have done better, perhaps, than to have made 
it hereditary in the person and family of Stanislaus Lescinsky, the 
principal competitor of the house of Saxony, he being a Pole by 
birth, and very amiable in his private character: but they were ne 
longer their own masters; and tiiey were divided amongst them- 
selves to such a degree as to render the interposition of some loreign 
power almost necessary to detprtnine their choice. Upon this oc- 
casion tlie emperor of Germany, whose niece the young elector of 
Saxony had married, assisted by the liussians, overcame the French 
inllnence which had been exerted in favour of Stanislaus, ai.d, by 
eflectually removing the latter, procured the election to fall on the 
son of the late king, Augustus 111. 

4.- This king of Poland, on the death of the emperor Charles VL, 
1,740, laid claim to the whole Austrian succession ; and not ult');;ether 
without reason, had not the i^'agmatic Sanction stood in his way, 
his wile being the eldest daughter of the emperor Joseph, elder 
brother of Charles \ 1. ; the object of the Pragmatic Sanction being 
insecure the inheritance to the females, in default of male issne ; 
and on the demise of Charles VI., his dau;^hler becoming his imn^edi- 
ate heir and representative, it certainly appearetl hard that the 
daughter of the elder brother, who had been emperor, should be so 
entirely excluded. The hope of succeeding to some part, at least, 
of the late emperor"'s hereditary dominions, induced the king of Po- 
land to enter into a cont'ederacy with Bavaria, Prussia, and France, 
against the house of Austria; but he derived no advantage from the 
alliance : he afterwards changed sides, and at the commencement ot 
the seven years' war, as has been before shown, (Sect. Vi.) suffered 
n ost severely for having espoused the case of the empress queen, 
and entertained views against Prussia, which the wary sovereign of 
tlie latter country found means to detect, and cruelly to revenge. i-sA 

5. It was not likely that a king who owed his election so entiie'ly 
to the interference of foreign powers, should acquire any thing 
like independence, or authority at home or abroad. During the 
reign of Augustus III. great feuds and animosities prevailed among 
tlK? Magnats, while the king himself was entirely subject to the 
intluonce of Russia; a circumstance so resented by his su'ijectsa.s 
to induce Jhem to avail themselves of the privilege of the Liheruin 
^eto, to dissolve all the diets he convoked, and thus leave the king- 
dom almvSt vAithout any govemmem. Augustus 111. died in the year 
1.703, at a period when the Itussian sceptre had passed into Imnds 
well fitted to promote- in every way possible, (just or unjust.) its 
aggrandizement and splendour. Catherine II. is supposed to nave 



MOIJI'JIN HISTOIiV. £&b 

had lier eyes upon Po];in(] hoforo the demhe of Atigiislus, and to 
liavf l.feii prrj-iiircd not only lo set n<U\i' Uie son of llio inllri', Imt to 
;i!!v;nicc lo tilt' \;ic;inl tlin.iu- pome civ:tUii-e of !ier own ; slic puid no 
atlcnlinn theroforo tc llie >olicit;itions of the lions<> of Saxony, and w-s 
very i^Iiorliy relieved, indeed, Irorn all cnmpetilioii in thai quarter, 
liy iiie eai-iy dealli of the ni^v elector. In conjnnction with l^rnssia 
she succeeded, hnl not without a s|iirited opiiosjtion on tlie part of a 
iinv Polish patriot>, in hestowini; the crown of i'oland on connl }'o- 
tiiatowski, one of \w\- favoiiriies,\nid a Pole Ity hirlh : a man of talent, 
and ariiiahle iti his disp(.'-ilion, lint likely to continue, as well as liis 
pret'f^cessor, entirely nnder her control. 

6. Nothing conld'l)(! a greater mockery than the care which the 
czarioa and the kiui; of Prussia pretendeci lo take of the liherties ot 
Poland, at ihe veryrnonient lliat they were forcing upon the nation 
a kjugOf their (Ami choice and nomination, bo far from trying 
to amend their laidty con<litulion, and eradicate the see<!s of fuliu'e 
animosiiies, ihey paVti(ulariy entered into an agreement lo pi'event 
the king rendering the crown hereditary in his family, or hcctining 
ahsolute ; that is, in tact, indcj.endcnt^ or jiowerlhl; for this was ihcii 
great oljcct. And when it was to he suhniiltecl to llie diet to ap- 
prove tlieir nominee, and declare count Poniatowski king, a Kus- 
Pian army was sent to Warsa^v, lo support i\wfreetloin of the election. 
The daiicc of the diet of course was soon decided lo be in favour of 
the Russian fiivourite, who hecame king accordingly, September 7, 
1,704, untler the uafno and title of Stanislaus Augustus. 

7. from this |)erind, the three neighbouring powers, Russia, 
IVussia, and Austria, the two iormer, liowevei", most pai'ticnlarly: 
nia3 be said to have bi'cn inlorested in Ihe internal dissensions of 
that nniiappy kingdom, which afllV>rdcd them plausible grounds o_l 
interference, anil which they coiild therefore have no sincere incli- 
nation toail>'y or adjust till Ihcy iiad effectually gained their own ends: 
the oiijvct of Russia prol)ably was to maintain her own power and 
ascendiincy over the whole country ; but Prussia meditated a pa.rti- 
tion, which might put her into possession of Polish ('r Western Prus- 
sia, a district of much importance in every ]5oint of view. 

8. Whatever may have been originally the distinct views of the 
several parties, it is very certain that they derived peculiar ailvan- 
tages from the extremely unsettled slate of the country, which was 
at this tune torn to pieces by the contests and disputes between the 
catholics and t/?s.«(/en,'5, or dissenters from the established religion: 
the latter, who since the middle of the sixteenth century Inal ac- 
quired muny privileges, were supported by several dilli-M'ent Ibreign 
jjowers; those of the Cireek church by Russia, and the protcstants 
of all pei-suasions by i'nl■^^ia, Denmark, ami Great Britain, all of 
whom were called "upon lo interpose as guarantees of the famous 
treaty of Oliva, 1,GGU. The diet, instigated by the court of Jiome 
and heads of the church, Judged it right to uphold the established 
iidth. and Stanislaus, though his principles were more^ tolerant and 
liber.d, ap[jearcd to take the same side, being jealous also of the too 
grea.t power of Russia, of which he couUl not lail to be conliinially 
reminded, not only by ihe open favour shown lo tne dissidents by 
Calheune, but bv the insolent superiority assumed by her general, 
command.ing in Polanil, prince R-epnin, and the extremely arbitrary 
and sanguinary m.uuier in which the empress sought to maintain her 
preponderance. 

9. In the mean while confederacies \vere forming in all pa. ts of 

M h 2 



Sb6 MO^JEKN HISTOKY. 

rlip Icinwflnm <o restore, iC poisible, the independence of their 

riiii!-, s-y. (^llcil at le. St was tiie object of tlic catholics,) or to pro- 
-iu ,; lot ths prote>tatit>j all tlie riglits ami privileges to which they 
.11 i (iaim, and ol" soin;^ of which tiiey had been iinjustlv deprived. 
! lie latter, under pr,nce Kadzivil, supported by Russian troops, 
(()fii|)('lietl the diet of Warsaw, ii the year 1,767, to accede to 
liieir de-niauds i tins hacened the grand confederacy of the catho- 
lics at Bar, in Podoiia, in 1,768, who.«e object was to *'irow olf the 
Rii-si.m ycilvR, with the aiil of Turkey, who had been induced by 
Traiif o to declare war against the liussians in that very y. nr, upoa 
•xiiQ occasion of the latter having passed their Ironlier in pursuing^ 
;i Polish parly, and comtnilted considerable depredations. 

lU. Though the coot'ederate catholics had clearly the good of 
their country in view, yet such was tlie influence of Russia, that 
the king and senate were compelled by Catherine to declare war 
against the Porte, and so far to counteract, as much as possible, 
the olforts that were making to accomplish their own independence. 
In Austria, indeed, during this stage of the business, the confede- 
rites at Bar had a friend in ;\laria. Theresa, who espoused the 
claim-; of the Saxon family, and who sent (hem both arms ai\d 
money, to enable them to check, if possible, the domineering pro- 
ced-'igs of the czarina, of which indeed she had good cause to be 
jealous. But the time was approaching in which, notwithstanding 
tiie most striking and formal declarations to the contrary, Poland 
w.-; to l»ecom ^ a prey (o ht?r three more powerful neighbou"s, and 
when all other feelings were to give way to that of duly apportiou- 
iiig and dividing the spoils of that unliappy country. 

II. It seems mnv to be pretty generally agreed, that the plan 
o! dismembering this unfortunate kingdom originated with the kmg 
oi" Prussia, or his bi-olher, prince H tiry : and that it was owing to 
pariictiiar circumstances that tlicy were able to bring the (wo otiier 
oiiriit^s so readily to ai^quiesce in tlieir trseasures of partition. Had 
r'rederiek himseit been more rapacious, it would proijably not have 
heen so easily accomplished, but, in order to gain what he most 
roveled, for his own share, he appeared willing to allow the other 
• rvo partitioning powers to acqnu'e rather more than /ell to bis lot, 
b-)th in extent of leri'itory and amount of population. In admilliiig 
A-istria to any share at ;di, he made no scruple to assert that his 
fj.uicipd motive w<is, that she should bear her part in the blame 
th tt mu^t attach to so arbitrai-y and rapacious an act. 

ii. Though the Polish king and n.ilion were compelled to ac- 
cjii.esce in these proceedings of tlie three powers, they did noi dc 
so without remonstrating in terms the most sinking and dignitied, 
acc-'uipauying their remonstrances and m.inifestoes with an opei: 
api'ieal to the several stales which had guarantied the integrity of 
l'oi:.n:] ; but all in vain. They obtained no assistance irom Ibreign 
siatts, no a!)atcinent of liieir demands on the part of the par- 
titioning powers, and were at length obliged, by a solemn diet, to 
sanction this gross dismemberment of their country. In two seve- 
ral discussions of the case, however, in the senate, an-d assembly 
of Nu!icios, the minority on the division was most numerous and 
respectable. In the foimer, the question was carried by a majors 
uy of .sj.r only, in the latter by one. The motive alleged by the 
jmrtiiioaing powers, ("or this extraot-dinary proceeding was, thai (bey 
vvei'e anxioiij to amend tiie consiitution, to pi'eserve the libertiea 
of Poland, and to appease the disorders which had lor so long r 



MODERN HlbTORy. 367 

ap;ice of (Jme disturbed the country, but they i'ultilled none of these 
. jxeleiidcd purposes. Tliey did notldng to amend the constitution, 
l;'Ht iraposed a new one upon them, liaught with tliose very 
imixMieciion*, of wliich they ndgiit ibr ever continue to take ad- 
xiiiUige. They perpetuated tlie eleciive monarchy, abridged 
lUDre than ever tlie authority of the king, and cnnlinued tlie libc- 
rum veto, a sort of tribunitiai privilege, exceedingly inimical to 
t!ie peace of the country, iSo far from upholding, they trampled 
upon tlieir liberties in every way they could, and promoted the dis- 
orders they pretended to remove, by encouraging, rathei" tlu'.n 
checking, tlie licentious conduct of their soldiery. In tact, a 
jirealer act of" atrocily, or a more barefaced mockery of national 
{eelings, never perhaps took place, or was even attempted, than in 
tiie dismemi)ernient ol llie kingdom of Poland. Austria and Prus- 
sia did, indeed, make an attempt to vindicate their claims to the 
countries they look possession of; but Russia sc;iicely judged it 
necessary lo make any declaration to that etiect. 'I'he archives of 
Pi-i!ssia and linngary were ransacked, and titles revived and in- 
ii-lcd upon, which, to say the least, had been in abeyance lor many 
centuries. How lar this measure may justly be said to have afteclet' 
the balance -A' power in Europe, is a distinct case. For a Ictig series 
oi' years, iii ot of ages, Poland had been so ill governed, or so weak. 
as to have had little inllutnce on that balance, though her situation 
seemed to point her out, and still appears to do so, as caj)able of ma- 
terially inlluencing or counteracting the operationsof her many pow- 
erful and ambitious neis^hbours, Piussia, Prussia, Austi'ia, and lurkey 
^ The worst consequence, however, arising from the confederaey 
^ against Polaiid, seems to have been the countenance thereby given 
lo the partitioning system in general. 

1:3. It was in the year l,77o that the division was finally agreed 
lo, and settled, and even sanctioned by the Polish diet. Of some- 
what more than ihirtcen thousand square Geiman leagues of terri- 
tory, Ihe partitioning p-owers took a good third, taking at the same 
time no measures to lessen the eviis arising from the defective con- 
stitution of Poland, in the portion allotted to the natives. It must 
be acknowledged, that they bestowed great pains on the improve 
mcnt of their respective shares; but no benefits of this nature, con- 
ferred on particular parts of the countiy, could compensate lor the 
unfeeling depredations committed upon the whole. 

14. The following has been given ;!S a fair representation of the 
parts allotted to tlie seferal powers, by the delegates appointed to 
adjust the respective claims. Other accounts, indeed, are extant, 
which it would be dillicult to attempt to reconcile with the one 
we are about to give ; a very exact statement, however, may not 
be nee essary. The Russian allotment consisted of Polish Livonia, 
parts of the palatinates of VVitepsk, Polotsk, and Minsk, and the 
\vbole palatinate of Micislavv, containing a population of 1,500,000 
so'.ds. The king of Prussia obtained the district called Royal, or, 
Western Prussia, excepting the towns of Dantzic and Thorn, with 
a population of 860,000 souls. Austria gained a large territory in 
tlij south of Poland, comprising Red Russia, Gallicia, pnd parts of 
the palatinates of Cracow. Sandomir, Lublin, Bezk, Vblhynia, and 
Podolia, contahiing a population of 2,600,000 souls, and the valuable 
salt-woks of \'ifc!itzka, which produced an annual revenue of £90,000. 
This district was annexed to tlie Austrian territories, under the an- 
cient appellation of the kingdoms of Gallicia and Lodomeria. Such 



S<)15 MODERN HISTORY. 

were the rotults of ^vhat is now distinguished by the name of the 

Fiiisr p;irlitioii of Folatul. 

lo. The 111 tie assistance Poland received to vvanl off the di*igrace 
-ind misery iA' tliis rtrst partition, the extraordinary apathy with 
ivhich it seeinL'd to he lieheld by iha other powers of Europe, \si\ 
little hopes of her regeneration, or escape from the toils into which 
¥he had t'allen; nor iiideed has she ever escaped from them, or 
recovered the .smallest degree of independence. Atlei the lirst 
partilion, the object she had most to dread was some accidental 
disunion of the partitioning powers, wlio woidd be sure 'o wreak 
thfir vengeance upon her; and an event of this very nature seems 
lo have been the .cause of what has been calleil the sf;coni> parti- 
tion, in l,7i);3. Russia and Austria, in the years l,7o7 and 1,788, by 
too close an alliance, having given umbrage to the king of Prussia, 
he insisted that thft constitution iormed for Poland, in 1,773, was 
void, and oilered to assist the Poles in framing a new one. which 
was completed under his auspices, May 3, 1,791. Had this consti- 
tution been able lo keep its ground, Poland, so much of it at least 
as remained to the natives, might have recovered some degree of 
credit and tVeedom; it was in a great measure the work of real 
patriots, enligiitened and moderate relbrmers; it abolished the 
libenan veto, and the elective monarchy, except in the case of the. 
extinction of some hereditary dynasty f it rendered the person of 
tlie king invioialde, but gave him responsible ministers ; it provid- 
ed a representative senate, hot much diiTering from the Engiish 
house of commons. Unhappily, this good work found enemies 
amongst the ancient nobles, who did not like to give i.p their pre 
tensions to i-oyaliy, and wlio had recourse lo the old and ruinous 
expedient of inviting foreign help, always at hand to avail itself 
of the internal CMiunotions of that devoted country. Russia was 
called in, by the confederates of Targovitz, and a renewal of losses 
and calamities en.sued of course. The king of I'russia, so far from 
supporting the .lew consiidiiion, the diet, or the king, as he seem- 
ed ab.solutely bound to do, by hLs own acts, eagerly seized upon the 
towns of Dantzic and Thorn, vvhich had been speciidly excepted 
iii the last partition, joined the czarina, in her cfi'orts against the 
patriots, under the brave Kosciusko, and finally succeeded in pre- 
vailing over a country, which, from the enthusiasm and spirit dis- 
played on this occasion in he4' dclence, deserved u better fate. By 
the secoiiil partition, in 1,793, Russia is said to have accpiired 4,0U0 
German .square miles iif territory, in Volh>nia, Lithuania, Podolia, 
and the Ukr.une ; and Prussia, besides Ihe towns of Dantzic and 
Thorn,- 1,0U0 square miles in south Prussia, with al'l the Hans;silic 
toun-. A f/ii/t/ and last partition soon iuilowcd, in the year 1,;;(5, 
betiveen Rus>ia, Prussia, and Ausliia. which may be said to have 
put an end to the kingdom and republic of Poland ; Stanislaus, lis 
unhappy monarch, being lensoved to Russia, where he soon afler 
died, February 12, 1,7P£ in this last partilion, Cracow was given 
to Austria, and VVarsaiv to Prussia. From the resistance of the 
natives, who gained greater advantages in niany engagements than 
could hive been expected from the nature of their force, the s!;utgl> 
ter liccompanying these latter revolutions was dreadful, and on the 
part of the ku.-sians attendc'd with circumstances of cruelty too 
much resembling wh it had taken place ia 1,772. 

lu. It would be diflicult to describe the state of Poland, from 
the period of the last jmrluion, in 1,795, to tlie treaty of Vienna, i» 



MODERN lliSTOKY. - 369 

T,8ir). The injuries (he nntives had experienced at the hands of 
the three nartilioning powers very naturaily disposed them to ac- 
cept any oi\'eri Irom the enetiiies'of their oppressors; and, ■is fjuo- 
naparle had frequent opportunities of nraking siicli offeis, it is not 
to he wonden^d tiia.t he shotdd have oi)tained their assistance, and 
snhjected them, more or h^ss, to Ids go*crnment and control; I ut 
as he was only at times in opposition to, and as ol'len allied with 
one or other "of the three powers, Russia, Austria, or Pnissia, he 
was never able to propose their entire emancipation, even il' he had 
desired it. Thus continually deceived and mortified, they derived 
no advantage from the aid they gave to France, if we except that ten- 
dency to»vards the recovery of a separate existence, (for it can 
scarcely he called more,) the creation of the grand ducl.y of War- 
saw, in' 1,807, which, by the treaty of Tilsit, and with tlie consent 
of lluonaparte, was consigned to the king of Sax-ony ; the emperoi 
of Russia at the same time acquiring much of Poland irom Prussia. 
hi 1,812, the kingdom was declared hy the diet of Warsaw to be re- 
established; and by the treaty of Vienna, in 1,815, being formaiiy 
delivered up by the king of Saxony, it became annexed to Russia 
and was deeiared to be," irrevocably attached to it by its constitution, 
to be possessed by his majesty the emperor of all the Russias, his 
heirs and successors in perpetuity." Tlie part assigned to Prussia 
took the name of the grand duchy of Posen. The salt-mines of 
X'ieiitzka were confirmed to the emperor of Austiia, and such dis- 
tricts as had bepn acquired by the treaty of Vienna, in 1,809. The 
town of Cracow was declared to be for ever a tree, independent, and 
strictly neutral city, under the protection of Ausliia Russia, and 
Prussia. The navigation of the rivers and canals, in all parts of an- 
cient Poland, (as it existed in the year 1,772,) was hy particular 
treaties, between Russia, Austria, and Prussia, declared to be lice, 
so as not to be interdicted to any inhabitant of the Polish provinces, 
belonging to either of the three powers. 



SECTION XX. 

GREAT BRITAIN, FROM THE PEACE OF AMIENS, 1,802. TO 
THE DEATH OF GEORGE II!., 1,820. 

1. Bf.fore one year had passed from the conchision of the peace 
of Amiens, circumstances took place which too plainly indicated a 
strong probability of the renewal of hostilities, and so early as the 
month of May, 1803, letters of marque and reprisal were again is- 
sued against the French, by tlie Britisn governnient, apparently 
with the full consent of the people at large, notwithstanding the 
enthusiastic joy which had been expressed on the termination of 
the war in the year preceding. It was upon this occasion that the 
first consul had recourse to a measui'e, singular in its nature, and 
which exposed many persons and i'amilies to great inconvenience 
He tbrcibly detained all the English who happened to be in Franct. 
not only for purposc^s nt business, but ol" pleasure or curiosity ; rioi'. 
with very !e\v exceptions, were any of tliem able lo rettn-n to their 
native country, for the long space of ten or eleven years. Prepa- 
rations also were made tor the invasion of England, wnich only ex- 
cited a stronger disposition, on the part of the latter country, to pic- 

47 



370 MODERN HISTORY. 

pare against such attempts, in a way well calculated to destroy a' 
once alt ttie enemy''s hopes nnd piospccts ol" success , in Ireland. 
indeed, a new conspiracy was set on ibot, which w;is snppoicd ii, 
rest on some promised support iVom France ; but this iv;is denied hy 
the cons}»irators themselves, and the disturbance soon quelled, whu- 
out spreading, in tact, beyond the capital. 

2. Though the king of Great Britain had declared, liiat, willi 
regard to his electoral st;ites, he should remain neuter, liu(in;ip:u'ie 
did not neglect such an opportunity of wounding his leeiiii^s, by 
the speedy occupation of Hanover, under circumstances pecunariv 
apgravaling to the people. Early in the month of June, 1,80J, llie 
Ilanuverian troops were made to lay down their arms, and engage 
not to serve against the French without a previous exchange. 

3. Holland was still too much under subjection to France, to be 
permitted to remain at peace ; letters of niaique \verp, therelbre. 
also issued against the Batavlan republic, on its refusal to agree to a 
perfect neutrality. 

4. In 1,8U4, a change of ministry in England brought Mr. Pitt 
again into power, at a moment when the arf.iirs of the continent, 
and the increased power of the tirst consul, who, in the course of 
the same month, assumed the imperial dignity, demanded all Ids 
attention. Before the conclusion of the year, the aid which bpain 
was compelled to render to the French, together with certain ap- 
pearances of hostile preparations in her ports, exposed her to an 
attack oa the part of Groat Britain, which soon drew from her a 
declaration of war, very tiital to her interests, though scarcely to 
be avoided, considering th& circumstances in which she had been 
placed by the extraordinary proceedings and demands of the British 
government, which uas supposed to have violated the strict rules 
of justice, il not of international law, by arbitrarily and prematin'ely 
seizing her treasure-ships^ on their passage to her ports, in an action 

f)erl"ectly unforeseen and unexpected, and in whicli many lives were 
ost. 

5. But if t)ie character of the British nation or government suf- 
fered in any respect from errors or mistakes m the commencement 
of the war, its naval power and credit were nighly advanced be- 
fore a year had passed, by the splendid victory obtained ov'er the 
Spanish and French tleets combined, ofl' cape Ti'aJiilgar, in Octo- 
ber, 1,805; a victory not achieved, however, without a correspon- 
dent loss, as has been before stated, in the death of the very cele- 
brated lord Nelson, commander of the British squadron, wbo lidl 
early in the action, and whose body, being afterwards brought to 
England, was buried with very unusual honours in the centre ot" 
St. Paul's catheilral. 

6. in 1,806 died Mr. Pitt; a minister whose extraordinary talents 
and integrity of life attached to him many friends and adherents, 
by whom he was ably supported through a very arduous contest; 
a contest which, though some thought it might have been avoided, 
others as contidenlly regarded as entiiely just and necessuiT, and 
a timely securiiy against the propagation of revolutionary princi- 
ples, more threatening and dangerous than .any aggressions purely 
hostile. It IS always easy to say, such and such events would not 
have happened, hid a dilTerent coui'se iVoin the one actuall}' adopted 
been pursueil ; but tins is at best mere matter of surmise. It js im- 
possible now to speak decisively of what might or might not have 
been the consequences of a longer forbearance from warj it is ex- 



MODERN lilbTORV. 37 1 

tfemely certain that mnny untoward circumstances prevente*! the 
accomplishment of all that Mr. Pitt h;><i in view, and tliat the power 
ol" ihe trench emperor, instead of heing checked, was advancing 
with rapid strides to a pitch of nncontrollahle and extended domin- 
ion, when the lormer was seized with that iilncss which terminated 
nis liie, in the forty-seventh year of his ;ige. On his death, a new 
a<iministration was formed, including his great parliamentary oppo- 
nent, Mr. Fox, who survived him ibr the short space of only seven 
months.'' It is highly creditahle to the character of the British nation 
to record, that these two eminent statesmen, who had been for a long 
tune so much opposed to each other, but whose abilities and sinceri- 
ty in an opposite line of politics appear to have been duly acknowl- 
edged and appreciated by all parties at the period of their deaths, 
were buried at the public expense, in Westminister Abbey, so near 
to eacli other, tli;<t one stone might liave covered the remains of 
both. 

7. During the short time that Mr. Fox was :i member of adminis- 
tration, i'resh attempts were made to terminate the war, by negotia- 
tion, but in vain. 'I'hongh the French emperor would have agreed 
to many cessions of importance, both to Great Britain and her 
ally, the emperor of Russia, it was found impossible to detach from 
his infiuence and usurped authority some ol" the most important 
parts of Europe, particularly Holland, Switzerland, Italy, and Ger- 
many. 

8 The system so generally adopted by the tyrant of France, of 
converting to his own use the resources of all other countries, 
which could in any manner be rendered subservient to his purpose, 
led the administration which succeeded (bat in which Mr. Fox had 
a share, to set on foot an expedition which has been j'ld-ed by 
many incapalde of justilication on any principles of political expe- 
diency, and wiiich was uiilnrtuniitely attended with more iiital con- 
sequences than were at lirst perhaps contempla.ted. Upon what in- 
formation the ministry proceeded did not iiiily appe:ir at the lime, 
but it was alleged thai they had reason to knorv thai the French ruler 
designed to occupy Holstein, ami convert to the purposes of an in- 
vasion of the Briiish dominions the Danish marine. 

y. It was determined, in ordei' to prevent such an accession to the 
naval power of France, to obtain possession of the deet on which the 
enemy had thus fixed bis view, and though it might perhaps have 
been both hoped ami expected by (he British government, that the 
Danes would be i)rought peaceably (o surrender into tiis_'ir hands 
lor a time a tleet tlius devoted to the ruin of a friendly power, yet 
the result turned out to be far otherwise. The ])anes resisted the 
demand, and though quite unable elfectually to defend against the 
forces opposed to them either their tleet or their capital, did not 
capitulate till about two thousand persons had lost their Hves, and 
many houses been burnt in a manner that threatened the entire de- 
struction of the city. The end, it is true, was accomplished, of get- 
ting into the power of the English all ilie'Duiish sliips of war, (eigh- 
teen ships of the line and fifteen irigates.) and naval stores; bul ii is 
to be feared that it will be long betbre the irritation caused l»y ibis 
sudden and unexpected attack on a brave people, not at war" with 
England, will be allayed or forgotten. 

lU. In vindication of the suspicions of the Britisli ministry, it was 
asserted that the Danish marine and arsenals were found in a state 
which left no doubt of the intrigues and agency of the Erench. ac- 



S72 MODERJN HISTORY. 

cording to the judgment of the officers and seamen employed in th« 
expedition. The general designs ol" Trisnce seem, indeed, to \m\*i 
been deci-ivel_v maiiiicsled, in (lie measures they nuw oj.eni} pnr- 
-^\n'i\. alioul the same time, of approiifiaiing to tiiemselvcsi lii'e neel 
ot' I'l.rtu^ai, and tor similar pni-posrs, lait ui.iiii, li)rhiiiaicly uillionl 
»o m.d;ii.>choiy a catastroplie, uas rescueil Ircm liie jtsniSji eC Itie 
Fivnuli nilcr, i(y its limely I'ernoval, inider liie |i()tec:liun of a British 
armament, to tiie ports ol" Brazil. Tiie diifert nee hetvv«'en Ihi' Hw> 
cases seemed to in; liii.-; that in ^ettiiij^ i^o^st'ssion of tii'' j-dlier fleet 
ue wei'e actnafiy assisting an aiiy ; iii'the i'ormer, we ueie crni- 
pelling a neutral to adopt a measure jiaigt-d to he uimecessary on h( r 
part, and on suspicions, the grounds o*i uliicli she disa\o\ved; liUt the 
stale of Europe, at that perioil, appears to have lieen such, es])ecially 
with i-egard to the^ minor states, as to justify precautions against 
French power and French intrigue, seldom, it' ever, lesorlad to in 
other instances: it may also lie ad(]ed, lli->t I'oringal unreseivediy 
communicated to Fngiand the avowed designs ol" France; Jjenmark, 
to say the least, acted with a reserve tar t'rem t"rier.dly, and resisted 
ail negotialio[) ; the consequences to the latter, huu ever, were cer- 
tainly d.'[)loralde. 

if. It was in the year 1,807, that the royal family of France, 
whose situation on the coniiuent became every day more alarniiisg 
and insecure, took lefuge in lu)gland ; they hxed their residence at 
liartwell, in BucUinghamsiure, ins majesty slyiing hinisilf the courM 
(.'e Lisle, vud modestly declining all honours and attenlit,ns, beyond 
such as might be due to a private nonleman 

12. Ihe vmflictive measures adopted by the French government 
to ruin the trade and commerce of Great Britain, naiui-aiiy drew 
from tli.e latter retaliatory esjiedients, which were n:ore or fess ap- 
proved, as aiVecti.^g neutral and friendly powers, but which could 
scarcely luue been avoided, witliout surrendering her mariiinie 
rights, and su'jmitting to a preteoce of blockade on the i«irt ol' a 
power, whos', sliips, had been fairly driven ("roni llie sea by the 
Bi'ilisli fleets. Orders in council were issued in the months of .lanua- 
ry and November, 1,807, not only ))ro]ul)ifing all trade between the 
pons of France and its allies, hut ullimateiy compelling all neutrals, 
trading to France, to stop at a Britisli port, and pay a duty in propor- 
tion to the value cd" the cargo. These embarrassments to trade iii 
general conk! not i'r.ii to excite great uneasiness in ai! parts of tiie 
world; hut the commencement of them is justly to be im|juled to the 
extraordinary decree, issued by the French ruler at Berlin, (the basis 
of the "■ continental system,") November, 1,806, an account of vvbich 
is given in Sect. XVI. : r.ni'ortunately the impossibility of salisliictoiiiy 
exempting other states from the etVect of these prohibitory m-A 
regulating decrees, on the part of the two lival countries, involved 
England In a very unpleasant dispute with the United States of 
America. 

13. Of the part England tock in (he aflairs of Spain and Fortugal, 
Irom 1,803 to 1,814, an account is to be foutid elsewhere \^See Sect. 
XV'Il.) It may be sufHcient to say, that, during the whole contest, 
the emancipation of those two ancient kingdoms from Ihe power o{ 
the French seemed to be contemplated by the whole mass of British 
subjects as their own cause. The people of Great Britain and Ire- 
laml, on the tirst application for assistance from Spain, appeared 
ready to rise in a body. They hailed the dawn of liberty on the 
cqniinent with tlie most enthu&iastjc ti^elings. The deputies from the 



MOl^EKW illSTORV. 373 

supreme junta of Seville, did not arrive in England, on their mission 
to the British government, till the 24th of Jul}, l,8u8 ; but long be- 
fore that, other deputies from the principality of Asturias had been 
received in London, with the mo.-t cordial tokens of esteem and 
(Viendi^liip. They were sj^leiididly entertained by the City .if Lori* 
don, the Bank, and other public bodies, as well as by individuals of 
the highest distinction. Sui)scnptions were opened in London, Liver- 
pool, Bristol, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dublin, Cork, Waterford, and 
many other places, for sup.porting the cause of Spain ; and several 
military corps, militia, and volunteers, oflered their services. Govei'ii- 
ment supplied them immediately with three hundred thousand pounds 
in dollars, live thousand muskets, thirty thousand pikes, and an im- 
mense quantity of powder and balls, with promises of more efleclual 
aid, which were ultimately amply fultilled. The spirit thus display- 
ed by the British public, on the first certain intelligence received "ot 
the anti-gallican insurrection in Spain, may be said to have conliiii.' d 
unabated till, through the matcliiess skill and valour of the confede- 
rate armies under the duke of Wellington, the French were tiually 
driven from the peninsula in 1,814, as related in our account tl 
Spain. 

14. His majesty George III., having, in the month of October, 
1,809, entered upon the 5Ulh year ot his reign, the event was celo- 
brateti throughout the natior> in a very striking manner, by services 
ol" thariksgiving in all the churches and chapels, with suitable dis- 
courses, iiluminati'>os, feasts, and other testimonies of joy, but paili- 
cularly by liberHl benefactions to the poor. In the month ot Novem- 
ber in the lollowing year, his majesty, much troubled and affiicltd i y 
the long illness and death of his daughter the princess Amelia, bad 
an alarming return of his lormer complaint, which terminated in a 
second suspension of his regai lunctions, and from whicn he n-^ver so 
sufficiently recovered as to be able to transact any business of slate. 
On the 20th of December, his royal highness tlie prince of V\ ales 
was appointed regent, subject ior a period to restrictions simiiar io 
those which had been proposed in 1,788-9. This plan was \iolenliy 
opposed, as unconstitutional and impolitic, but finally ferried in 1-eiI- 
ruary, 1,811. The bill was <?ompleted and presented to Ids nyal 
liighness, who did not hesitate to accept the trust, though not without 
remonstrating against the limitations and restrictions imposed on him. 
Early in 1,812, however, these restrictions were to cease. Great 
changes in administration had been contemplated, and many negotia- 
tions were carried on to this effect, but wilhout accomplishing that 
union and coalition of parties, which the regent himself seemed to 
desire. Not being disposed to withhold his conlidence theretbre iVcin 
those who had so long served his royal father, most of them, on the 
termination of the restrictions, were conlinueil in their places. A 
most rneli'.ncholy catastrophe, which occurred in the month of May, 
},812, deprived the nation of the services of Mr. Fercival, who was 
assassinated in the lobby of the house of commons, by a person ot 
the name of Bellingbam, in revenge, as he himself stated, of a pri- 
vate injury ; a denial of justice, as he called it, on the part oi' govern- 
ment. It seemed to be accidental that the premier happened to be 
the individual tirst presented to his notice on that fatal day. 

[Th^ paragraphs 15 and 16 of Dr. Is'ares' work, giving a very 

short account of the differences between the English and American 

governments in 1,812, 13, 14, and 15, are omitted. For a more par- 

Ucular, and we trust more impartial account of the war between 

1 i 



374 MvODEKN liiSTORY. 

Great Britain and the United Shitcs, the reader is referred to Section 
Vi. of Hart Fourth, near the close of this voiame.] 

17. The year l,ciI4, uiil ever he inemoniltle in the English histo- 
ry, for tlie very extraonhnary induence of foreigner? of the liighest 
distinction, from the opposite siiore, on the downfid of Buonaparte, 
and tlie conclusion of a war, wliich iiad agitated tlie wlioie of Eu- 
rope. Tlie list of visitors invited to the grand civic least given by 
the corporation of London, and ail of whom were present, but a 
very few, whom illness kept away, may convoy some idea of the 
splendid scenes that took place in dilferent parts oi" the kingdom 
in honour of these illustrious guests. It was on the ItJlh of June, 
that the dinner was given to the following very exalted pei-son- 
ages : 

The Prinxk Regent; the Empehur of lluspu; his sister, the Grand 
DucjiESS of Oldenhurgh, (aftervvards Qikkn of VVniTEMBURG ;) the 
King of Pri ssia ; the Koyal Dukes of England : the I^rince Koval of 
Prussia; Prince H'illiuni of Piussia, son of liie king; Prince F''e.der- 
ick^ nephew of the king ; Prince Hennj, brother of the king; Prince 
WiUiaiiiy brother of ihe king; Prince AuguHm^ihG king's cousin ; 
the l^KixcE of OicvNGE; the Phince Hoyal of Wirtemburg; the Prince 
Royal of Bavaria ; the Prince of Oldenburg ; the Prince of Cohonrg ; 
Prince Charles of Mccklenburgh ; DuKE^of Saxe Weimar; Prince 
Gagarina; Prince Czeretorinke ; Prince Radzivil ; Marshal Prin. e 
Biucher; Prince Hardenhurg; Prince Metternich ; Prince l.ichten- 
slein; Prince and Princess Volkouske; his highness the Duke of 
Orleans. 

These illustrious foreigners were entertained, at great cost ami f>x- 
pense, during "their stay, both by the court and public bodies: the 
prince regent accompanied Ihem on a visit to the university of Ox- 
ford ; and to Portsmouth, where they l»ad an opportunily of witness- 
ing a naval review. 

18. In May, 1,816, the heiress to the British crown, princess Char- 
otte, only child of the regent, was married to his serene highness 
Leopold George Frederic, prince of Cobonrg. This marriage was 
contemplated by the nation as an object of the highest hope;?; and 
for several months the amiable and e*xempliiry conduct of lier royui 
highness cheered the people with the brightest pros^pccts of fcti-re 
good ; but a very sudden and unexpected disappointment took place 
in the month of November, 1817; tiie princess w;is delivered of a 
still-born male iidant, and survived lier delivery otdy a lew hours. 
Nothing could exceed the concern manilested by the public on this 
n>elancholy and distressing occasion. " 

In the month of November, in the following year, her majesty 
nueen Charlotte died at Kew, al'ter a long and painl'nl illness; and on 
the 2'Jlh of Jaiuiary, 1821), was followed by her royid consort king 
George III. Hi.> m.ijcsty died at the castle of Windsor, at a very 
advanced age, and in the -sixtieth year of his reign ; greatly beloved 
l>y his subjects, and universally respected for his many i'.miahle ar.d 
royal virtues. 



MOJ)ERN HISTORY. 375 



SECTION XXI. 



FRANCE, FROM THE ENTRANCE OF THE ALLIES INTO PAR- 
IS, MARCH, 1,814. TO THE FINAL EVACUATION OF IT BY 
THE FOREIGN TROOPS, 1,818. 

1. Soo\ alter Buonat^arte departed lor Elba, Louis XVlll. was 
freely recoiled to tlie throne of his ancestors; he had been resident ir 
many places since his first ennii;ration, and been driven iVom almost 
all, by t!>e approach of republican troops, the dread of republican 
vengeance in those who afibrded him a refuge, and not nnseldom the 
Jear of poison or assassination. England, at length, afibrded him the 
asylum he sought in vain elsewhere: there lie lived secure against 
French a'niies, French inlluence, and, as far as Englishmen could 
protect him, tlie poisonous drug, or the sword of the assassin. When 
the way was opened for him to return to his native country, and re- 
ceive the crown and the throne, which his peo|)le now off'ertiJ iiim, 
but which had been so insulted and abused, it was characteristic of 
Englishnien to rejoice at his restoration, and at the great change pre- 
pared for him, from a state of banishment, outlawry, and depe[idence, 
to the recovery of one of the most brilliant thrones of Europe, and 
from which his unhappy brother had fallen in a way to excite the 
sympatliy of every feeling and generous mind: his departure Irom 
England to France^ was accompanied with Ine acclamations and sin 
cere gralulations of all ranlcs of people ; the prince regent persoirally 
escorted him not only^lo London, but from London to Dover; and 
took ler.ve of him, in sight of the French coast, in a manner the 
most atLcting and impresjivc. While flags were exhibited on alnjost 
all t!ie cluM'ches, near wjiich he had to pass, and nothing could ex- 
c<!ed tlie joy ex|nessecl upon the overthrow of Buonaparte, and the 
restoralim of the Bourbons, both in England and France. 

2. In the latter country, however, it mi-.y Ite naturally supposed, 
IHl' joy could not be general, nor much of what was expressed out- 
Wiirdly, sincere : Louis XVIU. returned to France, not as it was when 
lie left i!, but revolutionized; it had undergone great clianges, and a 
large proportion of the population was deeply interested in tiiose 
cli.ngei: yet miny, who returned with Idni, were quite as deeply 
in crested, in absolutely reversing what had passed, restoring what 
li.J been abolished, reclaiming wiiat liad been alienated, il" not even 
puiii-^liiiig and degrading those \vho had participated in or been ben 
eliled by sucli revolutions. 

3. hi the mean while the exiled emperor was not quiet; he was 
too near to tlie French coast to be kept in ignorance of what was 
passing, and of the sentiments ent^-rtained towards him, by those who 
had participated in his many glorious and triumphant achievements, 
and who could ill brook the degradation to which they might be 
(iiximjd by the restoration oi' the Bourbons; the army, in particular, 
to whom indeed he had behaved not only ill, but cruelly, in Ids re- 
treat from Russia and Leipzig, had yet been raised by him to such a 
jiilch of glory and pre-eminence, as might reasonably account for its 
reeling both <lisgust and resentment, at having i)een com{>elled to sub- 
mit to the intrusion of strangers into their country and metropolis, 
strangers, whom thjy had previously been able not only to defy aud 
resist, but in some instances, to triumph over in theii- own capitals 



376 MODERN HISTORY. 

4. The situation of the king of Fnince, therefore, on hi* return to 
his (iominions, however acceptable to the greater part ol Europe, 
coiild scarcely l)e such as lie might liimsell" wish or ilei^ire : il was 
mii)i):=.sil)ie tor him to return to the ancient ^tate of tilings ; and he 
musl luive foreseen how <lilhcult it wouki be to reniier anv new con- 
nitulion agreeable oi suitable to all parties. Tlie senate, indectl. 
bill prepared a new constitution before his arrival ; one which boue 
ji considerable analogy to that of England ; the legislative power be- 
ing placed in the hands of the king, the senate, and the repiesenta- 
tives of the nation at large; and the amount, nature, and distribution 
ot' the public taxes, left ex:lusively to the decision of the latter* the 
,)ep!ities were to exercise their functions ibr the space of tive years- 
the dignity of senator to be hereditary, and to be con' rred by the 
king, though with a limitation as to numbers, which vvcj'^ not to ex- 
ceed 2(J0; religious freedom, and the liberty of the press, were duly 
i rovided (or: this constitution was to be presented to him, to be ac- 
cepted previously to his inauguration ; but on his arrival at Paii.s, he 
did not choose to bind himself, further than to promise bis people 
sucli a constitution as they would have no reason to disapprove: his 
riist care was, to arrange matters with the foreign potentates who 
occupied his capital, so as to be able, as speedily as possible, to get 
lid of their numerous armies; whose presence could not fail to be a 
subject of uneasiness to his own armie.s, as well as to the people in 
general : to the credit of the troops themselves, under such extiaor- 
dinary circumstances, it should be observed, that nothing could ex- 
ceed the order and iurbearance with which they conducted them- 
selves, as victors, jn a capital, which, in the way of simple retribu- 
tion, stood fairly exposed to plunder, exaction, and devastation. 

5. Though it was soon settled to reier to a conveiition at V'icnna 
the tinal adjustment of matters, and arrangement of peace; y*^ 
trance was quickly made to undei-stand, that her boundaries must be 
greatly contracted, and that the independence of most of the newly 
annexed stales and territories must be freely acknowledged ; to these 
teritis both the king and his minister, prince Talleyrand, plainly saw 
tlu- necessity of yielding, though the pride of the French was likely 
to be wounded by it. 

t). On the 4th of June, the king presented to the senate and legis- 
lative boily his own new constitution, which ditfercd in several points 
IVom that subniit1e<l to him on his arrival; it reserved to himself the 
ngUt of proposing laws, and the assembly could only request to be 
permitted to discuss particular points; insteail of an hereditary 
senate, peers, chosen by the king for life were to compose that body, 
wiihout limitation ol" numl>ers ; the popular representatives were to 
consist of 262, not under 40 years of age : they were to be convoked 
every year, and were to have ihf^ power of impeaching the minis- 
ters for treason or extortion ; the k iig was to appoint the judges, and 
trial by jury was to b."* continued : the press was placed under a cen- 
ijorship, and an order was given lor closing the theatres and shops on 
the sabbath; an order not only extremely unpopular at the time. 
^ut,as it would seem, inelfectuai. In nominating the .senate, some of 
1 lonaparte's courtiers and marshals were included, particularly 
lalieyrand, who be'-nme minister for foreign atiiiirs. 

7. The king, who irom the tirst commencement of the revolutior 
had displayed a disposition to i'avour the rights of the people, more 
than others of his family, or the chiefs of the emigrants, was little 
likely of himself tc deviate from the principles o(" the constitution, 



MOULKN lllriTOKY. 37^ 

*» to disturb unnecossarily the existing state of things, in which so 
rr>rfny interests were invoivetl, but bo was supposed to have around 
hitn persons still bigotted Iv the ancient system, and anxious to re- 
cover ail that they bati iorfeited l)y the course of the revolution. 
These tilings, together willi the dissatisiied state of the army, paved 
the way for tiie return of Buonaparte. 

". Tlie proltabiUty of such an event seepi^ to have been strangely 
overlooked l.y those who were most in<-i'ested in preventing it: the 
pi>;)ul.iiily (if the d"iosed emperor l'<>d been miscalculated. On the 
I si of March, 1,815^ he landed oaca more on the shores of France 
\\\i\\ only 1,140 attendants: .m attempt wiiich many judged to br. 
altogether hopeless, yet, t" the utter surprise of those who though? 
so, nis progress towar'Ai Paris, though not unmolested, aflbrded him 
ev.-ry hour, from h'le defection of the troops sent against him, 
siron^jer hopes of recovering his authority. On the 20th of March 
tiie king was jxjrsuaded to retire from Paris; and on the evening of 
<iiat very d<»y Buonaparte entered it, being hailed by the populace^ 
which hii so lately saluted the return of the Bourbons in the same 
mnai.-!', with tiie loudest acclamations. 

i.1. He was soon convinced, however, that he was not returned to 
bis ancient power, and that he, quite as much as Louis XVIII., would 
now be expected to gratify the people with a free constit'!tion; he 
speedily tl>erefore, issued some popular decrees, establishing the 
jVeedom of the press; abolishing the slave-trade; and regulating iho 
taxes which weighed most heavily on the people; he also conde- 
scended to offer to them the plan of a constitution, very different from 
the system of despotism upon which he had before acted, and con- 
taining many excellent regulations: he had, however, but little time 
to spare tor legislative measures. A manifesto ol expulsion and ex- 
termination had been issued against him bv the congress at Vienna, 
signed t)y the plenipotentiaries of Austria, France, Great Britain, 
Ki.ssia, Prussia, Sweden, Spain, and Portugal, and it was indispensably 
necessary for him to prepare for war. To this manifesto on the part 
of the allied powers, Buonaparte was notsiow in dictating and present- 
ing to Europe a counter manifesto, asserting in the strongest term? 
the right of the French to adhere to the dynasty they had chosen on 
the expulsion of the Bourbons; and declaring that the coniederate 
princes had been the tirst to violate the treaty of Fontainebleau; 
but it is remarkable that, though Buonaparte so peremptorily assert- 
ed, in his manifesto, the right oi' the French freely to choose what 
dynasty they pleased to reign over them, he had inserted in his new 
constitution an ariicle, total/y, and for ever, to exclude the Bourbon 
fimily from the succession to the throne. 

10. It was not till June that th^ several armies were prepared to 
take the lield,an(l between the 15th and 19th of that month, the fate 
of Europe seemed once more to become dependent on the decision 
of the sword. The battle of Waterloo, which took place on the 18th 
of .lune, and in which the British and Prussian armies, under th<« 
duka of Wellington and marshal Blucher, totally defeated the Frencii, 
effectually put an end to all the hopes and prospects of Buonaparte. 
On the '<JOth, he arrived at Paris, the lirst of his fugitive army; and 
in a very few days after, was compelled a second time to resign hi^ 
usurped dominions. On his retirement from Paris, his destination 
rippeared to be a matter of extreme doubt, till on the 15th of July he 
put him;5elf into the h'jinds of the English by going on board the Bel- 
lerophon man of war, and surrendering hmiself and suit uncondition- 
i 2 48 



378 MODERN HISTORY. 

ally to captain MaitlanJ, the commander of that ship, who sailed inv 
mediately to Torbay with iiis pnsoners, none ol" whom were pcr^ 
liiitleci to land. 

I J On thu 3d of July, not however witliout a struggle on the part 
t)!' tilt? Fieuch aroiy, f;ins had t'oi'inaily i^iHTendered lo li.e (hike cf 
Wellington and prince likiclier, who took possession of it on the 7lli, 
nml on tlie 8th tlie king mtuined, greeted, as before, \vith tlie cheer- 
ing and acclamations of the i^^dile multilndes who thronged the roads 
by which he had to pass. By vlie terms of capitnlation, the French 
tiiMtps \inder Davoust had been nxn-Je to retire beyond the Loire, 
wliich they did with sullen indignation ; but on the arrival of llie 
Austrians and Russians at Paris, came ovcv to the king. It was very 
obvious, that, havuig Buonaparte once more n their power, tlie allies 
could not fail to provide 41 II possible precautions against nis reluin 
into any situation which might ;TfJord him the i.xeans oi commu- 
Hicating" with his old adherents, and thereby resuniing the station he 
had occupied for so many years, to their extreme annojF-.mce. The 
small, rocky, and totally detached island of St. Helena, in the Atlantic 
ocean, seemed ilie only secure place of abode to which he covud be 
assigned- It was therel'ore agreed to send him thither, under the 
cii'-tody of the British government, but under the eye, also, of com- 
missioners appointed to reside there, on the part of the Austrian, 
Russian, and French governments. On the 17lh of October, 1,816, 
he arrived at his destined resilience. 

12. Amongst the measures adopted by iUo. miUtaiy commanders of 
the foreign troops at Paris, none seemed more to occupy the allen- 
ti'jn of F.urope liian the deierniination they formed lo restore to the 
places which had been robbe<i of them the valuable works of art. 
which the victories of the French armies had put into their posses- 
sion, not merely in the way of plunder, but upon a regular system oi 
pjrloiiun§ every thing, which could add to the splendour and gre:ii- 
ness of their own capital, however gratnig to the leelings of th'>-' 
from whom they were taken, and however severely it must ha\.e 
added to the morliticationb ihey had l)een doomed to sutler from 
weakness or defeat. The justice of such a step could not i)e dis- 
p;;ted, though nothing was more likely to excite the resentment and 
indignation of the l-'reiich, in whose hands, it must be acknowledged, 
had they been properly acquired, tliey were likely enough to be 
preserved and exhibited to the world, in a manner the most condu- 
cive to the glory and immortality of the illustrious artists to whom 
they owed their origin ; but, as an act of honourable restitution, in 
many instances, to persons and places whose claims would otherwise 
have been mocked and derided, the interpoMtion of the two victoii- 
ous chiefs upon this occasion may be justly admired. Prince Blucher, 
indeed, had a direct interest in reclaiming (be spoils of Berlin and 
Potzdam, but the duke of VVellington, while he had nothhig to re- 
cover lor his own country, freely assisted those whose pretensions re- 
quired the support of such paramount anihority. 

13. By the second general pacification of Paris wi'.h the allies, 
."^Tovember 2Uth, 1,815, it was agreed that an army of occupation, 
amounting to 150,UU0 men, and to be maintained in a great measure 
by France, should for the space of tive years be put in possession of 
her frontier fortresses, while her boundary should be larilier reduced 
than on the former occasion ; terms suiricienl'y mortiiying, but justi- 
fied by the turbulent and unsettled principles of the French nation. 
Though the period of five years, however, had been specificidly 



MODERN HISTORY. 379 

'Agreed to, the state of things afterwards appearing such as to justify 
the allies in departing from tlie exact letter oi' (lie ti eat), in the 
spring of the year 1,817 they consented to r.^diioe ll:e iniiiy ol' oc- 
cupation one tilth, and in the autumn of 1,810, it was vvholly with, 
drawn froa. tlie French terrilories, and tlie furlre.-j>es on ilie iicnilier 
restored. 



SECTION XXII. 

NORTHERN STATES OF EUROPE, FROM THE CLOSE OF THE 
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 

1. Though much has been said of the nortiiern courts in tlie pre- 
ceding sections, as bearing a part in the transactions on the coiitineiit, 
during the last and present centuries, yet as they have not been 
mentioned distinctly and particularly, some brief account of them 
may be necessary, to give a clearer view of the course of events 
during the period under consideration. 

2. Peter the great, of Klssja, who died in 1,725, (see Sect. LXVI. 
§ 2.) was succeeded by his widow, Catherine I., who survived him 
only two years. It is remarkable, that though Peter had taken par- 
ticular care to secure to the reigning monarch a power of nanuiig 
his successor, he should himself neglect lhi*i precaution ; and foi 
such an omission the law had made no provision. Catherine, how- 
ever, had httle or no dithculty to take his place. She was a woman. 
if not of a superior, yet of rather an extraordinary character: had 
attended Peter in his travels and campaigns; been serviceable to him 
in his greatest extremities; olien checked the violence oi his pas- 
sions; and manifested a disposition, during her short reign, to encour- 
age a .spirit of liberty amongst her subject-^ and to promote, in every 
way ske could, the progress of improvement and civilization. Hei 
death was little expected, and excited some suspicions against tlie 
prince Menzjcofi', who had just negociated a treaty with Austria, and 
entered into a stipulation to raise the sen ol" the unlbi'tunate prince 
Alexis to the throue, upon the condition of.liis marrying bis daughter. 

3. The empress ilied in 1,7^27, and was succeeded by Peter II., 
grandson of Peter 1. MenzicotT, however, seemed to take into bis 
own I'.ands the reins oi government, till he was supplanted bv one 
of the Dolgorouk; family, and banished to Siberia, with his wife and 
children. The new favourite designed to marry bis sister to the 
emperor; but on January 29, I,7oU, Peter died of the small-pox. 
4n him the male issue of the line becoming extinct, Anne, duchess of 
Courland, was called to the throne through the intluence oi I)'>it>o- 
rouki, contrary to tlie order of succession established i>y Peter I., and 
in prejudice of her elder sister, the duchess of Mecklenburg. They 
were both of them the daughters of l\van, the eldest brother of 
Peter. 

4. The reign of Anne was pros[)crons and glorious; she showed 
great sagacity and (iinmess in resisting the intrigues, and la!;!nciug 
the credit of rival statesme::, connseiioi's, and generals, Ku.-sian and 
foreign; maintaining her pi erogati\rs against lliose who sought to 
invade them, to iurther tbeir own ambition, parlicularly Dolgorouki, 
who, though he had placed her on the throne, was disgraced and 
banished to Siberia. Ai.ne died in 1,740, leavhig the crown, bv he». 
will, to her giaad-nephevv Iwan, son of her niece, Anne, princess of 



S80 M01>EilN HISTORY. 

Mecklenburg, married to the duke of Brunswick Bevern ; but she 
appointed iier tiivourite, count Biren, whom slie had brouglu with 
hei' tVoni Conrland, regent 

5. This liijsl arrangement threw things into tiie utmost confnsinn. 
Biren was (L't-crvedly no lijvoin'ite with the Russians, more than 
20,000 of wliom he is said to have sent into banishment; ho had, 
besides, a poweri'ni rival in count Munich, the conqueror of Ocz;'.- 
kow, a German, and a man ol' singular bravery and resoiutio.i ; t!ie 
latli r succeeded in dispossessing the regent of ids authority in favour 
of tiie inolher of tlie emperor. Biren was sent to Siberia; and ihe 
princess of Mecklenburg (duchess of Brunswick) assumed the r.d.i- 
of government ; but not attending suflicientiy to the duties of her 
higii station, and appearing to give too great enconragemcnl lo 
foreigners, a new revoluhon was set on foot, to place on ihe lliroiie 
the youngest daughter ol Peter the great, the princess I'di/.alieli]. 
Tins party, supported by French gold, and headed by Leslocq. a 
physiciiu, quickly becoming strong, seized upon the emperor hvaii 
•and his par(uils, and proclaimed Elizabeth empress ofall Ihe i-!nssi,i-. 
The life of the infant Iwan was preserved by (he clemency and ex- 
press interpesilion of Elizabeth ; but only to undergo a iiarder fat;-. 
(See below, § fj.) Munich was banished ; and other foreign gener;il'^, 
who had favoured the former government, either shared the same 
destiny, or contrived to escape irom the Russian dominion--. 'J'he 
people were well pleased to see t!ie throne rescued from the basii's 
of foreigners in favour oi' so direct a claimant as the daughter ol 
Peter tlie great. Ttiis revoluiion took place in the month of Tvo- 
ve'mber, 1,741. 

'^. Russia flourished under the s\vay of Elizabeth, whose reign ,ex- 
nuiited an uninterrupted career of glory and success; her alii.mce 
WIS couiled by some of the greatest powers in Europe. Before her 
death, which iiappened in 1,762, she look care to restore the natural 
order of siicce>sion in Ifer iimiily, by declaring the duke of HolsUin 
Gottorp, her heir, son of her eldest'sister, and who became emperor, 
on her demise, by the title of Peter 111. 

7. Tins uidbrlunate prince was not sufi'ered to reigu long ; he had 
married a princess of Anbalt-Zerbst ; a woman of singular character, 
peculiarly lilted to avail herself of any opportunities that migiit offer 
in so unsettled a cou'^^y, lo gratify her amlution, and give scope lo 
her abidties. The prmce had not behaved web to her, and niaiiy 
things concurred to render him unpopular, if not hateful to his sub- 
jects; particularly an enliiusiastic attachment lo the king of Prus.-ia. 
ti)en at war with the Russians, and projected innovations, well-meant 
but ill-timeil, some particularly atlectiiig, the clergy. He proposed to 
citcnmscribe the power of the noldes, and seemed to prefer tiie 
Hoistein troops to his Russian guard. As these things rendered his 
removal ])robable, accon'ing to the ordinary course of proceedings in 
tliat semi-barbarous country, the sagacious Catherine willingly gave 
ners-elf up to a party wb(^ had conspired against her husband, li is 
generally conjectured tliat slie connived, not oidy at the deposili<in, 
but at the death of Peter, who survived bis ele\ alien lo the imperial 

•dignity not many months; while Catherine, by her superior addresi 
and intrepidity, not only siicci-eded in establishing herself upon the 
vaciuit throne, but in emancipalmg herseii'from the dominalioii of the 
parly to whom she stood indebted for il, (tlie Orlofls.) 

8. One competitor still seemed to stand in her way, — the ufilbrt;i- 
nute Iwan, — wlio liud been deposed by Elizabeth, and now languished 



MODERN HISTORY. 381 

fn confinement, at the age of twenty-four. Soon after Catherine's 
accessioij he was slain in prison, on a pretence of his attempting to 
escape, l>ut nndor circumstances so mysterious as to ir.volvp tiio em- 
press in .suspicion. Siie reigned under the title of Catherine II. ibr 
the long sjKice of U{)wanU of thirty-ibur yeai-s. continually occupied 
in advancing the glory of her people, m augmenting her dominions, 
and rewarding merit. She obtained many signal advantages over the 
Turks, and succeeded (1,784) in wresting from them the whole dis- 
trict of the Criniea ; hut her designs extended much farther, even to 
(he expulsion of the Ottomans, and restoration of a Grecian empire, 
having for its capital Athens or Constantinople : she contemplated, in 
short, the complete triumph of the Cross over the Crescent. An ex- 
pedition was even undertaken tor the liberation of the Greeks, in 
the year 1,770; Init it proved ineffectual, though it might have been 
otherwise, had the Russian commanders consented to follow the ad- 
vice of th Scotch admiral, Elpliinstone, who commanded one of the 
divisions ot tlie l]ee(. 

9. Catherine bore a large share in the partition of Poland, and 
seems to have been i-estrained by no principles of justice, humanity, 
morality, or virtue, from turthering the purposes o'fher ambition and 
policy :_ her prodigality was great, her largesses enormous, and her 
love of magniticence little proportioned to the smallness of the im- 
perial revenue: her aluiities and her resolution were remarkable, 
and she may be considered as having contributed largely to the im- 
provement and glory of the country over which she was permitted 
so long to bear unlimited rule. Her domestic regulations savoured 
little of the despotism displayed in iier foreign enterjjrises : she miti- 
gated the rigour of tlie penal laws, abolished torture and slavery, 
protected the arts and sciences, and endeavoured to elevate the mid- 
dle class to a proper degree of importance. 

10. Catherine II. was succeeded in 1,796 by her son Paul I., a 
strange character, e.nsetlled in his principles, dissolute in his manners, 
jealous, vindictive, and, in his last days, scarcely in possession of liis 
senses. On his tirst accession, however, he wisely endeavouretl to 
provide against the evils arising from an unsettled inheritance, by 
'enacting a law to secure the crown to his lineal and direct descen- 
dants, not absolutely excluding females, but admitting them only into 
the line of succession on a total failure of male heirs. 

11. The emperor appeared to be extremely eager to secure an 
entrance into the jMedito-n-anean, and was highly gratified with being 
f.liosen patron of the order of Malta, which he consented to take 
under his protection in the year 1,798. He had been induced to take 
a part in the war against the French, and succeeded, in conjunction 
with the Turks, in getting possession, for a short time', of the Ionian 
islands; a Russian army was also sent to co-operate with the Austri- 
ans. under the couuiiand of the celebrated Souwarow, (or Souvarofl',) 
wlio, after having achieved great victories in Lornbardy, seems to 
have been cr'uelly ab;nidoned in Svvisserland, and to have unjustly in- 
curred the displeasure of his capricious master- A misunderstanding 
between the English and Paul on the subject of Malta, entirely 
alienated the latter from the confederacy. In the mean while, his 
violent coniluct had induced the great othcers of state and the nobility 
to conspire to dethrone him. He was slain in defending himsoKi 
during a contiict, in his own chamber, Marcli 24, 1.801 ; and, gn^ally 
to the joy of his oppressed people, succeeded by nis son Alexander, 



382 MODEllN HISTORY. 

the present emperor, of whose accession, and share in the continental 
v/ar. an account has ah'eacly been given. 

12. Prussia, as a kingdo'in, is not older than the eighteenth century, 
and entirely belongs tborei'ore to tiie period under discussion, lis 
history, as connected willi tlie electorate of Brandenbui'gli, ascends 
as higii, perhaps, as that of any sovereignty in l^urrpe. Its present 
power may be said to have taken its rise from the wisdom, judgment, 
and good sense of the elector Frederic-William, commonly called the 
great elector, who liad Ducal Prussia confirmed to him in 1,637. a.nd 
liy the convention of VValau and Krombei-g, rendered independent ol 
the crown of Poland, of wiiich, till then, it hati been a tief In the 
time of the great elector, advantage was taken of the unsettled stale 
of Europe, to increase the population, and thereby advance llie 
wealth and improvement of the country in every respect. The 
rcvocalion of the edict of Nantes in IVance, 1,G85, contributed large- 
ly to these ends, the Prussian states being freely set open to the ref- 
ugees of all descriptions; an act of mere policy, as tlie elector iiim- 
sell', though tolerant, was extremely devout and careful of the privi- 
leges, and even exemptions of the clen^y. 

13. The elector, Frederic-William, died in 1,688, and was succeed- 
ed l)y his son Frederic, who, through the intJuence of the jirotestanl 
state's, and the good-will of the emperor Leopold, to whom he had 
been of service in his contest uith France, but who seems to iiave 
taki.^n such a step with little judgment or consideration, became king 
in 1,70!, and died in 1,713, at the very period when, by the treaty of 
Utrecht, his regal title ^vas contirnied and generally acknowledged 
by the other states of Europe. Frederic 1. was genei'ous, but tickle, 
superstitious, and vain; he tbnnded the University of Hall, the P>oyal 
Society of Berlin, and the Academy of Nobles, b it without taking 
much interest in their concerns, anil chietly at the inslig.itinn of iiis 
more learned consort, the princess Charlotte of Hanover ; he man- 
aged, however, to augment, by many acquisitions, purchases, and 
exchanges, the extent of his dominions. 

14. Flis successor, Fredcric-Wiliiam II., is judged lo have done 
much, more to raise the creciit and character of bis new kingdom, by 
excessive prudence, and good management- and the utmost attention 
lo bis army ; whereby he not only repaired the losses occasioned by 
bis father's extrava.garces, but amassed great treasures, and laid the 
foundation for those stupfindous military achievements, which, in the 
oext reign, advanced Prussia to that high state of glory and eminence 
»vliich has given it such weight in the political scale of Europe. 
Frederic abolished, in 1,717, all the liels in bis kingdom; he invited 
colonies I'rom all jiarts to settle in his dominions. Like his gre;it pied- 
ecessor -md namesake, he estai)lished military schools and ii' spiials, 
liut he was no friend to literature ; unpoiis-hed in his mianuis, and 
iMipl-.ic;\ble in his resentment. He added to the domhiions of Prussia. 
ISleaia and the greater part of Swedish Pomerania. _,, — 

15. On the deatii of Fredeiic-Wiliiam Jl., in 1,740, his son, (who 
is sometimes calltcl Frederic II., to disiinguish him from Itie F rederic- 
\Viili.ims, and sometimes Frederic 111.,) c;une to the throne. Of this 
n. 'inarch so much is known, and so much has already been noiired 
and recorded in the other sections of this work, that we h.ne liiile 
to say here, but that he managed to raise a scallered, ili-sorlcil, dis- 
jointed kingdom into the lirst rank of power and renown ; tinit he 
applied himself incessaully to promote the weJlare and improvcmeul 



MODERN HISTORY. 383 

of his dominions, to augment the wealth and advance the civilizndop 
of his people, though, in m;iny of iiis regulalions ;irul measures to 
Uii.s end, he erred occasionally as his predccesriois hiu! done, lor »;int 
of a due knowletlge oi' some ot' \.\\c liis; j.'riitciples of poli;ical cc-.c u- 
omy, a science at that period liillc cullivaled. I'rod.Mic died Aii^ur-l, 
t,7ijli, in the seventy tilth year ol his ai^e, mul l()rly-se\ eiilli nf Lis 
.'eign, more admired liian esteemed; moi-e disiingidsiied for inaveiy 
in Ihe lield, wisdom in Ihecahinet, and literary attainments, than for 
any virtues or qualities of a nobler naiure. lie has had the re|H!la- 
tion of being the author of two very important measuies, l!ie ]>;)i 'i- 
tion of [-"oland, and the armcNJ neutrality. The credit ol'tiieliist 
m.iy probably be very liiiriy di-, ided between himself and Catherine 
of Russia; the second, a- a m;ill(^r of self-defence, and a jr-alons i e- 
gard for the liberty of the seas, leiiecls no dishonour on his character 
It is a point that should Ije belter sc'tlied than it seems to Ijc, by llie 
strict rules of internalional ae.d mariiime law. 

16. Frederic was suc-iecded by bis iiepheiv Frederic-William. Oi 
the part taken by this monarch in support ot' the house of Orange, 
in 1,7l{7, of his opiiosition to the Frencli, in IiTlt2, and of lb(> sbire 
he had in the two last partitions of i^'oland, in 1,7;V^ and l,79rijiy 
which he gained the territories, tirst of South i^ru^^ia, a.ud. >ee(iuiiy 
of South-eastern Prussia, an account h:.s been ;;i\en el-ew in iv. 
Frederic-William II. died in i,797, aged tifty-three, lea\ ing the crov\n 
to his son, the piesent king, Fredeiic 111., who, as he came to tlie 
throne at the moment that i)U0uaparte began his exlraordinai y ca- 
reer, in disturbance of the peace of the continent, was necessarily 
involved in all the difiiculties and confusion of those times, as has 
been already shown : he jei:ied tiie .wniod neiUndity in l,80(j, criu-^ed 
Hamburgh to be slte.t : ;'; i ■ I the -lates of 
llano\er, l,Bt>l, \vhici, .w' ; in-^i,;, in l.'jij.'j, 

in exch.inge for a par. .... ..,., , .,/.,..;...-, Anspa;:!:, Ikir-'.saii, 

iVeufcbatel, and Salengin, provoketl the resentnu'iit of Fr.ghuid and 
Sweden, in 1,806, the king rashly engaged in war with France, and 
was nearly deprived c-f bis kuigdom : tiio losses he s;,^;;,incd le, liie 
treaty of Tilsit, have been memioned. (Sect. X\'i.) In l,ui-, Fred- 
eric was compelled by i'Vance to fuini.-ii an auxiiiary foire a^ainsi 
Russia, but was afler\varus, on Hit; retreat <A' liu- Freeeii inan' Mos- 
cow, able to hvi'.ik liuMu^^JT iiiis enjj;agf'm.eni, and i eix'ltide a treaty 
of neutrality with iui-ia. From this lime tii liie abJiialion of i\;i- 
poleoii, Prussia aeh-i in cie-:^ eenfrd.'s-a'-y wiiii the aides, tl;!- king 
being constantly wi;b bis arniv liil their entrance into i-'aris, Maich, 
l,c'.li. On the relura ef B;i.!iiae;:rie. l.Sl.'), tlie I'rus-ians were the 
iirst to take the hel,l, sa.der iheir e._|. ira,..! --Mieral, prince Blucber, 
and in the battle of *-Val':|:.n. iv;e--,! ihf s]>i"nnid glories of that day 
in conjunction with the iJiliiii. bi;;." ''■■'' <i - ■„ lVe:-^-,ia has eM_v>3ed 
a state ef peace, though not !Muli^;i;. ;• \^,\^ maj * duc'erns. 

17. The crown of Sv.s,!t,n, on •,, , (;iia,ies Xll., IJlB, 
(see Sect. LXVL § 9. Fail 11.) was ^.-./t'l i-u ,,n ius youngest sister, 
Ulrica Eleanora, by the tree election of the stales. On the death ot" 
Charles, whose strange proceedings had greatly exhausted the king- 
dom, and occasioned the actual loss of many nrovinces, an opportuni- 
ty was taken, once more, io limit the kingly power, which had been 
rendered almost absolute in the reign of (^diaries XI., and to make 
the crown elective. The new queen, who was married lO the hered.. 
itary prince of Hesse Cassei. and wlio had been oflered the crown in 
prejuciice of the sou aad represeutative ol her elder sister, the 



384 MODEKJN HlriTOilY. 

duchess of Holstein tioltorp, readily submitted to the conditions pro- 
posed l.iy the states for limiting the royal authority, but soon aftei her 
accession resigned the government io her royal consort, v' o was 
^rowned by the title of Frederic i., 1,720. 

18. The new king ruled the nation with lillle dignity and less spir- 
it; submitting to every thing imposed on him by the states, nil tl.e 
gover-.ment became more republican than monarchicaL The *^,ie- 
dish territories were also mucli reduced during the early part of his 
reign, hi the course of the years 1,719, 1,720, 1,721, Sweden ceded 
to Hanover, Bremen, and Veiden; to Prussia, the town oi Stettin, 
and to fiussia, Livonia, Esthonia, higria, Wiburg, a part of Careiia 
and several islands. 

19. It was during this reign that the rival fictions of the Hats and 
Cap!, had their origin, and which caused great trouble; the fornier 
reing generally under the inlkience of France, the latter of Russia. 
To deter the latter from assisting the queen of Hungary, in the war 
that took place on the death of (Jhailes VI., France made use of iis 
mlluence with the Huts, to involve Sweden in hostilities with Russia, 
for which siie was ill-prepared, and from which she suffered cr.nsii!- 
erably. Her losses were restored to her in some meastu'e by the 
peace of Abo, 1,743, but upon the positive condition that Fieueiic 
should adopt as his heir and successor, at the instance of th(> cz;iriyi;t, 
Adolphus-Frederic, bishop of Lubec, uncle to the duke of llol!:;tein 
Gottorp, presumptive heir to the throne oi" Russia, and nephew to 
the queen of Sweden, who would more willingly have hud the latter 
for her successor. 

20. Adniphus-Frederic came to the crown in 1,751. The same 
factions wbic'i had disturbed the former reign continued to give him 
trouble, and though he made some endeavours to get the better ot 
foreign influence, and recover his lost authority, all his efforts were 
vain. Nothing coidd exceed the anarchy and contusion that prevaii- 
etl, encouraged and fomented both by Russia imd France, to lurther 
the'r private ends. The king is supposed to have fidlen a sacritice 
to these disturbances, dying wholly dispirited in the year 1,771. 

21. He was succeeded by his eldest son Gustavus ill., tvven(y-fjvr. 
years old at the time of his accession ; a Swede by birth, and an ac 
live and spirited prince, \vho was bent upon recovering what hh 
predecessors had too tamely suri'cndered oi' their rights and prerog- 
atives; in which, being supported by France, he had the good fortune 
to succeed. Having found means to conciliate the army, and to rec 
oncile the people to an attack upon the aristocrats, who were betray 
ing the interests of the country, he established a neu' consliinlion 
1,772, with such good management and address, that the public tran 
quillity \vas scarcely for a moment disturbed. This new arrangemenl 
threw great power into the hands of the king, by leaving him the 
option of convening and dissolving the states, with the entire disposal 
of the army, navy, and all public appointments, civil, military, and 
ecclesiastical; some alterations vvere made in 1,789, but nothing 
could reconcile the party whom he had superseded; at least it is 
probable that this was the occasion of the catastrophe which termi- 
nated the life of the unfortunate monarch. Tou'ards the commence- 
ment of the French revolution, in the year 1,792, v/hen he was pre- 
paring to assist Lewis XVi., (an unpopular undertaking,) he wag 
nssassinated at a masquerade by a person encouragful, if not directly 
employed, by the discontented party of 1,772. 

22. Gustavus lU. was brave, polite, weil-intornied, and of a ready 



MODERN HISTORY. S86 

eloquence ; but profligate in his habits ol' life, and careless as to mat- 
{(•!•■> of religion. He promoted letteis, agricuKnre, and commerce, 
its fii as Ijs means would enaldc liim to dc so. His measures appeal 
to li.ive been more arbitrary than his disposition. 

To. His son Gustavus iV. bein^ only fourteen years old at the time 
r>l' id* father's death, the duke of Sudermania, brother of the deceas- 
ed king, became regent for a short time. No monarch in Knrope 
riianifesled a greater zeal in the cause of the French royal family, 
iir disgust at the ai'bitrai'y proceedings of Buonaparte, than Custavus 
IV,, [)ut he was little able to give eflect to his wishes; his judgment 
being weak, and his tbrces inadequate to contend with the French, 
especially after the latter, by the treaty of Tilsit, (see Sect. XVI.) 
had fojud means to detach and conciliate the emperor Alexander. 
Alter this disastrous treaty, Gustavus became not only the object of 
French resentment, but of Russian rapacity. He was peremptorily 
lorliidden to admit the English into his ports, and Finland was quickly 
wrested from him. The Danes also attacked him. hi this dilemma, 
Kngl.ind would have assisted him if she could iiave trusted him, but, 
111 truth, his rashness and incapacity were become too apparent to 
justify any such contidence. A revolution was almost necessary, nor 
was ii Idiig betbie a conspiracy was formed, which, in the year 1,809, 
succeeded so far as to induce him to abdicate His uncle, the didie 
of Sudermania, being appointed protector, and very soon afterwards 
king, by the title of Ctiarles XilL, the slates carrying their resent- 
ment against Gustavus IV. so far, as to exclude his posterity also from 
the throne. 

21. Charles XIII. submitted to new restrictions on the kingly au 
th.-'ity, and iKuing no Issue, left it to the nation to nominate an heir 
t,> I he c.'own. Their tirst choice fell upon the prince of Augusten- 
liuig, a Daiush subject, but ids death happening soon afterwards, noi 
wiiliout suspicion of ibul play, Rernadotte, one of Buonaparte's gen- 
era is, vv as, in a very extraordinary manner, nominated in his room by 
the king, and approved by the states. As crown prince of Sweden, 
tempted by tlie otfer of iN^orvvay, he joined the conlederacy against 
Buonapai'te in 1.813, and w..s present at the battle oi'Leinzig. (See 
Sect. XX.) On the death of Charles XIII., i,81S, he succeeded to 
the crown, and still reigns, having, by the treaty of Vienna, 1,815, 
obtauiocl Norway, and the island of Guadaioupe. 

2b. The history of Denmark during the eighteenth century, and 
ijoginning of the nineteenlh, is very uninterestuig, in a polilical point 
ol view. Incap.abie of taking any'lcading oi- consjdcuous part in the 
•tlfairs of Europe, all that we know concenung her relates rather to 
Oilier coiinlries, as'lvussia, Sweden, I rus>ia, France, and England ; in 
i\iiose i'rit ndsliips and hosiililies she has been compelled, by circum 
ri.ioces, to take a part, little advantageous, if not entirely detrimental, 
lo her own interests. 

2i). live kings have occupied the throne since tlie close of the 
sevonteenlh century, but it will be necessary to say very little of 
il.oni. Frederic IV"., u ho came to ihe crown in 1,G99, died in l^llKK 
.Hid Nvas succeeded by Christian VI.; a monarch who paid great at' 
tention to the welfare of bis sui jects, in lightening the taxes, an-l en- 
couraging trade and manulactures. He reigned sixteen year?, and 
was succeeded by his son Frederic V., in the year 1,746. Fredeiic 
tiod in the Ibotsteps of his I'ather, by promoting knowledge, encour- 
aging the manufactures, and extending the commerce of his country. 
lie bad nearly been embroiled with Russia during the six Qiontlis' 
Kk 49 



386 MODERN HISTORV. 

leigi of the unfortunate Peter III., who, the moment he beCurae eni' 
peror, resolved to revenge on the court of Denmark the injuries 
nhich had been committed on his ancestors of the house of Heilstcin 
Gottorp. In these attempts he was to be assisted by the king of 
Prussia. The king of Denmark prepared to resist the attacks uith 
which he was threatened, but the deposition and death of the em- 
peror fortunately relieved him trom all apprehensions, and he wag 
able to compromise matters with Catherine II., by a treaty that was 
not (o take eifect till the grand duke Paul came of age. By this con- 
vention, the empress ceded to Denmark, in the name of her son, tbe 
duchy o( Sleswick, and so much of Holstein as appertained to the 
Gottorp branch ol" that family, in exchange for the provinces of Ol- 
denburg and Dalmenhorst. 

27. Frederic V. died in 1,766, and was succeeded by his son Chris- 
tian VII., who, in 1,768, married the princess Carohne Matilda of 
England, sister to his majesty king George 111. The principal event 
m this reign was one which involved the unhappy queen in inextric- 
able dithcultios, and probably hastened her death ; but which seems 
still to be enveloped in considerable mystery. A German physician 
of^ the court, (Slruensee,) who had risen from rather a low station in 
life to be tirst minister, having rendered himself extremely obnoxious 
by a most extensive reform in all the public offices of state, civil and 
military, and which, had they succeeded, might have done him great 
credit as a statesman, was accused of intriguing with the young 
queen, and by the violence of his enemies, headed and encouraged 
by Juliana INIaria, the queen-dowager, and her son prince Frederic, 
brought most ignominiously to the scaflbld. The unfortunate queen 
Caroline, whose life was probably saved only by the spirited inter- 
position of the British minister, quitted Denmark after the execution 
of Slruensee and his coadjutor Brandt, antl having retired to Zell in 
Germany, painfully separated from her children, there ended her 
days. May 10, 1,775, in the twenty -fourth year of her age. 

28. During the latter part of his life, Christian VII., whose under- 
standing had always been weak, fell into a state of mental derange- 
ment, and the government was carried on by the queen-dowager and 
prince Frederic, as co-regents, with the aid of Barnstoff, an able and 
patriotic minister. In 1,773, the cession of Ducal Holstein to Den- 
mark by Russia took place, according to the treaty above spoken of: 
tins was a very important acquisition, as giving her the command of 
the whole Cimbrian peninsula, and enabling her, by Ibrming a canal 
I'rom Kiel, to connect the Baltic with the German ocean. In the 
continental wars of 1,788, 1793, Denmark remained neuter, but by 
joining the armed neutrality in 1,800, she excited the suspicions and 
resentment of Great Britain, and, being supposed to lavour not only 
Russia but France, became involved in a contest, which was attended 
with losses and vexations the most melancholy and deplorable. (See 
Sect. XX. § 9.) 

21^ Christian VII. died in 1,788, and was succeeded bv his son 
I'rederic VI., the present monarch, who had, a few years before, on 
entering the seventeenth year of his age, been admitted to his proper 
share in the government, having with singular moderation and pru- 
dence succeeded in taking the administration of aifairs out of the 
hands of the queen-dowager and her party. Denmark appears to 
liave suffered greatly from the peculiarity of her situation during the 
struggles arising cut of the trench revolution, being continually 
forced into alliances contrary to her own interests, and made at last to 



MODERN HISTORY. 387 

contribute more largely than almost any state, to the estahlisliment 
of peace. The cession of Norway to Sweden, which had been held 
out by the allies as a boon to the latter power, to induce her to join 
the last confederacy against 1* ranee, being a severe loss to Denmark, 
and very ill requited by the transfer ol' Pomerania aTid the Isle of 
Hugen, wliich were all that she received in exchange. 



SECTION XXIII. 

SOUTHERN STATES OF EUROPE, FROM THE CLOSE OF THE 
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 

1. The southern states of Europe underwent such extraordinary 
revolutions during the pi-eponderance ot" the French under Buona- 
parte, that what happened to them during the eighteenth century, 
previously to these surprising events, seems comparatively of very 
iitlle conrequence ; of the changes and disturbances to which they 
were subject through the interference of the French, an account i* 
to be lound in the sections relating to France. 

2. Switzerland at the beginning of the eighteenth century was in- 
volved in disputes between the prolestants and catholics, which were 
attended with very unpleasant circumstances. These differences, 
however, were brought to an end by a convention in 1,717, which 
established an equality of religious rights. Things remained very 
quiet in most of the cantons from this time to the French rovolutionj 
with the exception of the towns of Geneva and Berne, and a few 
other places, where a disposition was manifested to limit and restrain 
tJje aristocratical governments, but which only led at that time to 
such iudicious reforms, as were sufficient to appease the ardour of the 
people. These disputes, however, may be held to have contributed 
10 the evils which befel the country afterwards. Though the states 
endeavoured to preserve their neutrality during the progress of the 
French revolution, it was not possible, while revolutionary principles 
were afloat, to keep the country so free from inteinal disputes and 
commotions, or so united, as to deter the French from interfering. 
Geneva had already been cajoled out of her independence, but the 
first decisive occasion afforded to the French of taking an active part 
In the affairs of Swisserland, arose out of the disputes, in 1,798, rel- 
ative to the Pays de Vaud ; the gentry and citizens of which, not 
thinking themselves sufficiently favoured by the rulers of Berne and 
Fribourg, began to be clamorous for a change. The peasantry of 
Basle also, instigated by an emissary of the French directory, de- 
manded a new constitution. These disputes opened the way for the 
introduction of French troops, tirst under the orders of the directory, 
and afterwards under Buonaparte, as has been shown in our account 
of France ; and from that period to the conclusion of the war in 
1,815, Switzerland can scarcely be said to have known a year of 
repose. 

3. Of the condition of Venice during the eighteenth century, much 
may be collected from the foregoing sections. She lost the Morea in 
1,718, but acquired in exchange some towns in Albania and Dalmalia. 
Some ecclesiastical reforms took place in the middle of the last cen- 
tury, at which period many convents were suppressed, and the Jesuits 
expelled. Venice endeavoured to remain neuter during the first 



388 MODERN HISTORY. 

movements of the French revohjtion, but was soon drawn into the 
vortex when Buonnpurte assumed the command of the French aim\. 
By the treaty of Campo Formio, 1,797, (see Sect. XV.) her dooin 
was sealed, and this celebrated republic entirely overtlirown. 

4. In Rome, since the close of tbe eighteenth century, there ha? 
been a succession of many popes, though tlie last two have tiilod the 
papal chair longer tlian might be expected, in a sovereignty where 
the election is generally made from persons advanced in years. Lit- 
tle more than the ■' magni nominis umbra'' remained to the popes at 
the beginning of the eighteenth century, of that temporal power 
which at one time or other had shaken every throne in Europe. 
The clergy of France in particular had effectually asserted that kings 
and princes, in temporal concerns, were independent of the rcclosi- 
astical authority. Clement XI., who was of the family of the Albaui, 
and assumed the tiara in the year 1,700, opposed the erection of 
Prussia into a kingdom ; an extraordinary measure of interposition, 
and which had so little weight as almost to expose his court to ridi- 
cule. He espoused the French interests in the contest ,:oncerning 
the Spanish succession, though in 1,708 he was compelled, l>y the 
vigorous proceedings of the emperor, to acknowledge Charles III. 
king of Spain. From this pope the famous bull ^inigenitm was ex- 
torted by the Jesuits, to the great disturbance of b'rance, and the 
whole Romish church ; and the consequences of which, indeed, may 
be traced even in the present state and circumstances of Europe. 

5. Pope Clement XI. died in 1,721, and was succeeded l)y tin- car- 
dinal Michael AngeloConti, who took the naineof Innocent XIII., hut - 
beinn^ far advanced in years, lived a very short time, dying on ttie .3d 
of INlarch, 1,724, and on the 29th of May tbllowins;, cardinal Frsini, 
Benedict XllL, was chosen his successor. During his papacy, f'oiu- 
machio, which had been lost to the Roman see in the time of Clem- 
ent XI., was recovered ; Benedict was zealous for the honour of the 
bull unigenitus, and in conjunction with cardinal Flem-y, succeeded 
in procuring the cardinal de Noailles, one of the most respectable and 
zealous opposers of it in France, to subscribe it. He had a disposi- 
tion to unite the Roman, Greek, Lutheran, and reformed churches, 
but could not succeed. He died 1,730, more admired for his viriues 
and talents, than praised for his wisdom in the management of afTaii-s. 

6. Benedict Xlll. was succeeded by Clement XII., Laurence Coivi- 
ni, a Florentine, whose public acts were of little importance. He 
had disputes with the king of Sardinia, the republic of Venice, with 
the empire and Spain ; but much of his pontificate was passed in 
tranquillity. He died on the 6th of Februr.ry, 1 ,740. He made con- 
siderable and valuable additions to the Vatican library. On hi^ 
death, a struggle arose between the Albani and Corsini families, and 
the conclave was much agitated. The former prevailed, and suc- 
ceeded in elevating cardinal Prosper Lambertini to the papal chair. 
who took the title of Benedict XIV. His government of the church 
was extremely mild, and he was regarded as no fiivourer of the 
Jesuits, who, during his pontificate, fell into disrepute in Forlugal. 
the fn-st symptom of their decline and tall. This pope was a man of 
most amiable manners, a great writer, and possessed of considerable 
learning. He corrected several abuses, particularly such as had 
arisen out of the privileges of a^iylum. lie carefully endeavoured to 
keep clear of disputes and contests, thinking the tinies unfavourable 
to the papal authority. He died in the year 1,758. 

7. The cardinal Rezzonico succeeded Benedict XIV., and took the 



MODERN HISTOKY. 339 

title of Clement XIII. His pontificate is nnemorabie for being the 
Kra of the expulsion of the ordrr of Jesuits, (in some instances un- 
der circumstances of very unju^titiable precipitation.) from Portugal, 
France, Spain, Naples, Sicily, Parma, Venice, and Corsica, notwith- 
standing the utmost efforts of the pope to uphold them ; many of 
them were actually landed from Spain, Portugal, Naples, and "^icily, 
on the pope's territories, as though it belonged to him To maintain 
them when abandoned by the catholic sovereigns. The pope re- 
monstrated, but with little elTect. The French seized upon Avignon, 
and the Neapolitans upon Benevento, to induce him to abandon the 
order, but he would not. Clement XIII. died suddenly, on February 
2, 1,769, and was succeeded by the celeorated Ganganelli, w^ho, in 
compliment to his predecessor and patron, took the title of Clement 
XIV. This enlightened pontiff was sensible of the dechne of the 
papal authority, and of the prudence of conciliating, if not of 
humouring, the sovereigns of Europe, against whom, he was accus- 
tomed to observe, the Alps and the Pyrenees were not sufficient pro- 
tection. It was in consequence of this leaning towards the temporal 
princes, that he secured their concurrence to his being made pope, 
his freedom of thought and manners being otherwise obnoxious to 
the court of Ror/ie. The conclave, by which he was elected, was 
tumultuous ; but at length the cardinal de Bernis succei.ded in pro- 
curing liim to be chosen pope. May, 1,769. It is well known that 
this accomplished pontiff", in the year 1,773, after much deliberation, 
suppressed the order of .lesuits ; and, dying in the next year, suspi- 
cions were raised that he had been poisoned, but, on ojiening his 
body, in the presence of the French and Spanish ministers, enemies 
to the Jesuits, it w;is pronounced otherwise. There is little doubt 
but that he regretted, as head of the church, the step he had been 
compelled to take ; it procured for him, indeed, the restitution of 
Avignon and Benevento, which had been taken from his predecessor; 
but in consenting to the dissolution of an order so essential to the 
papal dominion, he must, in all probability, have yielded to the power 
of irresistible circumstances. He was of an amiable disposition, 
much given to literature, indefatigable in business, and highly re- 
spected by foreign nations, plain and simple in his manners, and very 
disinterested. 

8. Fady in the year 1,775, Angiolo Braschi, a descendant of the 
noble family of Cesena, was chosen to fill the chair vacated by the 
death of Ganganelli. The new pope took the title of Pius VI. He 
is sai J t(i have been elected contrary to the wishes and intentions of 
most of the members of the conclave, a circumstance not unlikely to 
happen amidst such a contrariety of interests, and the complicated 
forms of proceeding. As he had thus risen to supreme power, he 
acted afterwards more independently of the cardinals, than any of 
liis pi-edecessors. 

9. He had taken the name of Pius VI., in acknowledged defiance 
of a prevailing superstition, expressed in the following verses, and 
applied to Alexander VI. particularly, if not to others. 

" Sextus Tarquinius, Sextus Nero, sextus et iste 
Semper sub sextis, perdita Roma fuit." 

He is known to have, in his troubles, reflected on this rather sin- 
gular circumstance, with sorrow and dismay. Certainly no pope hatl 
greater indignities to sustain, nor could any have greater cause to 

K k 'I 



590 MODERN HISTORY. 

apply fo tiiemselves the ominous presages conveyed in the lines just 
citetl; lor in the year 1,798 his governmt'nt tvas overthrown, and 
Ronve lost. The French took possession of it and proclaimed the 
restoi-alion of the Roman republic. 

10. The pope's troubles began in 1,796, when he was compelled 
to cede to Buonaparte the cities of Bologna, Urbino, Ferrara, and 
.-Xncona, to pay twenty-one millions of francs, and deliver to the 
French commissioners, sent for the purposes, pictures, busts, statues, 
and vases, to a large amount. He afterwards endeavoured to raise 
an army to recover what he had lost; but he had formed a very 
wrong estimate of the power of his opponent. He was socn com- 
pelled, February 12, 1,797, to sue for peace, and submit to further' 

, sacntices at the will oi Buonaparte, whom he had certaitdy very in- 
caiiliously provoked. By the peace of Tolentino, he renoimced all 
right to Avignon and the Vanaissiii, Bologna, Ferrara, and the Romag- 
na. On the entrance of the French in 1,798, the Vatican and quit 
inal palaces, and private mansions of the obnoxious amongst the 
iiobiiily, were stripped of all their ornaments and riches. The peo- 
ple who had invited the French, fancied themselves free, but had 
very little cause to thank their deliverers. The pope was forcibly 
removed from Rome, at the age of eighty, and, by order of the 
French directory, transferred from place to place, as the course of 
events diclatoil, Irom Rome to Florence, from Florence to Briancon, 
and from Bri;incon to Valence. Another removal to J)ijon is saiil to 
have been in contemplation, had not the decline of his health become 
too visible to render it necessary, lie died at the latter place on the 
29th of \ugust, 1,799, in the eighty-second year of his age, and 
twenly-lonrtli of his poni.'ticate. 

1 1. Pius \1. \vas correct in his manners, and a patron of genius, 
particularly of the tine arts. He spent much money on buildings, 
notwithstanding the distressed state of the iinances, and devoted large 
sums to the draining of the Pontine marshes, in which almost im- 
practicable undertaking, he partly succeeded. He endeavoured to 
correct the abuses of sanctuary, which had been carried so far as to 
give impunity to hired assassins, much to the disgrace of those who 
protected them. It deserves to be recorded of him, that he display, 
ed great magnanimity, as well as pious resignation, when dragged 
Irom his dominions ; and though he fell severely the wrongs that had 
been committed again<t him by the French and the inlalualed Ro- 
mans, he died tranquilly and serenely. 

12. It is remarkable that he had scarcely been dead a month, when 
Rome was delivered from the han<is of its oppressors, and given up 
to the British, uhose fleet, under commodore 'I'rowbridge, had block- 
ed rip the port of Civita Vecchia. Those who had favoured the re- 
publican cau-e were i)erniitted to retire, and the French garrison 
niaiched out with the honours of wai'. 

13. In the month . of .March, 1,800, a conclave of cardinals, under 
the protection of the empeior and other catholic powers, met at 
\'enice to elect a successor to Pius VI., and was not long in fixing 
upon the cardi;;al Chiarc nonte, bisliop of Tivoli, the present pope 
Pins Vll. In a few weeks after his elecliun, he set out for his new 
dominions, a.id arrived at Rome on the ;nh of July. In the monir, 
of September, 1,801, he Iiad the satisfaction of concluding a concor^ 
da-urn ^^ ith the French republic, by which, under the auspices of 
Buonaparte, then first consul, the Roman catholic religion was re- 
/:5tablished there. Not only heresy, but inlidelity and atheism, ha/ 



MODERN HISTORY. S9J 

been so openly encouraged and avowed by the French revolutionists, 
thai Pius appears to have thought no concessions too great to ac- 
complish this end : for the terms of the agreement undoui)ted!y sub- 
jected the Gallican church entirely to the civil government, canoni- 
cjil institution being almost the only privilege reserved to the pope, 
and eveiy possible encouragement being, at the same time, given to 
the protestaiit churches, Lutheran and Calvinistic. 

13. It was very soon discovered, that the new head of the Roman 
church, was to be made to bow as low to the authority of Buonaparte 
as his predecessor. In 1,804 Pius Vll. was summoned to Paris to 
officiate at the coronation of the French emperor; and though in 
the year following he declined altencimg a similar ceremony at 
Milan, as has been already shown, it seems only to have exposr-d him 
to greater sacrifices. In 1,808 he was deprived ot Urbino, Ancona, 
ftlacei'i'ta, and Camerino, and soon alter his temporal sovereignly 
was formally dissolved, and the papal territories annexed to France. 
Rome was declared to be a free and imi)erial city : the court of in- 
qiiisilion, the temporal jurisdi.;tion of the clergy, ihe right of asylum, 
and other privileges were abolished, and the title of king of Rome ap- 
propriated lO the heir of the French empire. Pins was conveyed 
first to Grenoble, afterwards to Savona, and finally, in 1,812, to Fon- 
tainebleau, where, for reasons unknown, he was once more acknowl- 
edged as a sovereign, till tlie advance ot the allies upon Paris, at last, 
f)rocured him his liberty; and in l,8i4 tie was reinsiaied ; he made 
lis solemn entrance into Rome on the 24th of May; and in 1,01 t, 
by the arrangements of the congress ot Vienna, his lorfeited p^'tates 
were re-annexed to the papal dominions. His restoration of tho 
order of Jesuits and of the court ol" inquisition, on his return, occa- 
sioned some concern to the greater part of Europe : but his holiness 
has generally had the credit of being a man ol sense, prudence, and 
moderation. 



SECTION XXIV. 
OF INDIA, OR HINDOOSTAN. .. 

1. India or Hindoostan having largely engaged the attention of 
f^nrope since the close of the seventeenth century, may deserve 
some distinct notice, though little is to be added to what has already 
been related in (brmer sections, of the pohtical events and transac- 
tions which have occurred in that remote region of the globe, during 
the period alluded to. 

2. The celebrated Aurungzebe, who occupied the throne of Del- 
hi, at the commencement of the eighteenth century, lived to the 
year 1,707. In him the spirit of the great Timor, Irom whom lie 
was the eleventh in descent, seemed to revive. He was brave, bul 
cruel. He attained to a great age, being nearly a hundred years 
old when he died, having succeeded in rendering almost the whole 
of the peninsula sulyect to his sway, trom the tenth to the thirty-fifth 
degree of latitude, and nearly as much in longitu<lv;. 

3. But if Aurungzebe thus raised in his own person the credit of 
the mogul throne, its glory also perished with him. A sad scene of 
confusion ensued upon his death. He nad himsell, indeed, wided to 
the throne through the blood of his own kindred. After deposing 
his father, two of his brothers were slain in contending for the crown. 



392 MODERN hlSTORV. 

But such was the nature, generally, of the political revolutions of 
those countries, that had not this been the case, the life of Aurungze» 
he himself might probably have been sacrificed to similar views and 
purposes. He is said to have bilterly repented of his misdoings be- 
tore he died. 

4. No sooner, however, was he dead, than the most violent con* 
tests arose between his own sons, t^vo of whom, Azem and KauM 
Buksli, perished in their opposition to their elder brother, who be-* 
came emperor, under the title of Bahader Shah. The throne, in- 
deed, was such an object of contention, that, in the small space of 
eleven years, five princes, who attained to the throne, and six, who' 
were candidates for it, successively fell victims to the lusts and pas- 
sions of their semi-barbarous competitors. It was in the reign of 
Feroksere, who was deposed in 1,717, that the English East India 
Company obtained the famous firman or grant, by which their goods 
of export and import were exempted from duties, and which has been 
regarded as their commercial charter in India ; no other European 
companies being similarly indulged. 

5. In the time of Mahinud or Muhammed Shah, who came to the 
throne in the year 1,718, and who was engaged in disputes with some 
of his most powerful neighbours and dependents, the celebrated 
usurper of the Persian throne. Nadir Shah, encouraged, or even in- 
vited, as it has been said, by some of the discontented princes, particu- 
larly the subahdar of the Dcckan, invaded the dominions of the Mo- 
gul, and with such success, as in the year 1,739, to seize upon Delhi, 
the capital, wi(h all its treasures, and compel the unhappy sullan, to 
surrender, with the utmost ignominy, his crown and sceptre. He 
was, indeed, afterwards restored, but with the loss of all his domin- 
ions west of the Indus, together with jewels and treasures to an in- 
calculable amount ; some indiscreet insult, offered to the Persians, 
having been the alleged provocation for delivering the city up to 
plunder, and the inhabitants to the sword, with every cruelty and in- 
dignity attendant upon such misfortunes. Tliis miserable capital 
afterwards laulerwent a second vi?;itation of the same description, 
from one of the followers of Nadir Shah, Abdallah, who had, indeed, 
been forced into his service, but found means to take advantage of 
his master's victories, by seizing upon the territories west of the In- 
dus, ceded to Nadir bv the unfortunate mogul, and erecting a sove- 
reignty for himself at Candahar. Nadir Shah w:is assassinated in his 
tent, in 1,747. 

6. By the invasion of the Persians, the power and glory of the 
moguis may be said to have been biought to an end. From that 
period the subordinate states, princes, and viceroy,*, began to aspire 
to a degree of independence, and to acquire a consequence bel'ore 
unknown ; the mogul himself becoming a mere nominal sovereign. 
Those who were most raised at this time by the depression of the 
sullanic authority, appear to have been — 

The Nizam or Sul)ahdar, of the Dcckan ; the Nabot of Arcot, or 
the Carnalic ; the Subahdar of Bengal ; the Nabob of Oude ; the 
Rajahpoote Princes of Aghnere ; the Mahraltas; the Seiks; the 
Ro'hillas, and the Jats. 

The disputes and differences that took place between these several 
powers, after they had shaken off the yoke of the mogul, opened 
the door lor the interference of the European settlers, towards the 
middle of the eighteenth century. (See Sect. VI. § 2.) The French 
first, and afterwards the English, contrix^ed to take advantage of the 



MODERN HISTORY. ^3 

rival clai'iis sot up bv tlie ditrerent naiive powers, and by rendering 
tlit'in n>si«.i;ini;e airain-it each other, 'nid ii is io I'e feared yreaily fo- 
iiientinij their quarrels, soon becaoie ar^(iii;unie(l wiiii the ruamfest 
superioriiy ol' their own tactics, and ilie iriHuence tliis oiurt give them 
in such contests. The French went farther, ami lirsi liii upon the 
expedient of training: the natives in the European manner, and ia- 
corporaiini? litem with their own armies; these were called Sepoys. 

7. It was not long before tlie French and English, who liad at first 
only taken the field as auxilaries, became opposed to each other as 
principals; in which contlicls the English succeeded beyond ail ex- 
pectation, and instead of being driven out of tiio peninsula themselves, 
which was evidently in the view of the French under Dupleix, ia 
the year 1,751 and 1,752, found means to establish iheinselvcs liiere, 
throuih the victories of Clive, to the exclusion of all other European 
nations, except for purposes purely commercial. 

8. Clive has justly been regarded as the founder of the British em- 
pire in India ; lie was the first to procure for the company grants of 
territory and assignments of revenue, which totally changed the char- 
acter of our connexion with that country, and rendered the native 
princes, even the mogul himself subservient to our purposes. The 
English had received areal provocation from tiie subahdar of Bengal, 
in an attack upon Calcutta, and Clive was selected by admiral Wat- 
son to recover froui Sourajud Dowlah the town and fori, which had 
been surrendered to him. At the battle of Plassey, 1,757, he not on- 
ly succeeded in the recoveiy of Calcutta, hut in the deposition of the 
subahdar, and iiaving appointed his general in his room, obtained a 
grant of all the effects and factories of the French in Bengal. Bahar, 
and Ori«sa, and money contributions to the immense amount of 
£2.750,000 sterling, exclusive of private gratuities. 

9. It would have been well if theso advantages could have been 
acquired with less loss of credit to the nation than was actually the 
case ; but there was too much in these first steps towards a territorial 
establishment, to feed the ambition and cupidity of those intrusted 
with the management of affairs, to render it probable that they would 
keep clear of abuses. The opportunities that occurred of intermed- 
dling with the native powers, were eagerly seized upon as occasions 
for enriching the servants of the company, (drawn from home in ex- 
pectation of makinir rapid fortunes,) at the expense of the company 
itself, whose affairs were in danser, not only of becoming more em- 
barrassed by the extraordinary expenses of such interference, hut by 
the alienation of tiie minds of the natives, under circumstances little 
short of the most determined plunder and persecution. In the man- 
agement of the new-acquired territories and inland trade, it is no 
lonser to be doibted thai the natives suffered in every pos>iible man- 
ner, from the most unreasonable monopolies, exorbitant duties im- 
posed on articles of ijeneral consumption, abuses in regard to leases, 
and fiscal oppressions; .so that the British nume became dislioDt)red, 
and it wa-; found to b? nb-ioltiiply expedient that some change shoulil 
lake place in the admisiration of affairs so remote from the seat of 
all rule and direction, and which, from simply commercial, were now 
clearly become political and military, 

10. The charter of tlie co npany being subject to periodical le- 
nevvai-^, affurlcri oppuriuiiiiies for tlie inierfereni-e of the legislature, 
nor was the com|)any itself backward under any pressure of pecu- 
niary embarrassments, to apply to government for assistance. On 
one of these occasions, the great change that had taken place in the 



394 MODEIUV HISTORY. 

«late of things in India, induced the government at home to claim fot 
Ihe crown ail revenues arising from any new acquisitions made by 
military force, and in order to repress the inordinate proceedings of 
the company's servants, of wliich the natives, the public at home, 
and the company itself, had but too much reason to complain, gov 
ernment also insisted upon taking into its own hands the political 
jurisdiction of India. 

1 1. These claims and regulations were first proposed in parliament^ 
November, 1,772, and may be said to have laid the foundation foi 
that enlarged system of administration and control which has prevail- 
ed since, though under different modifications, from lord North's bill 
in 1,773 to Mr. Pitt's in 1,784. By this latter bill, a board of control, 
composed of certain commissioners of the rank of privy counsellors, 
was established, the members of which were to be appointed by the 
king, and removable at his pleasure. This board was authorized to 
check, superintend, and control the civil and miUtary government 
and revenue of the company ; a high tribunal also, for the trial of 
Indian delinquents, wiis proposed at the same time. The manage- 
ment of their commercial concerns was left in the hands of the com- 
pany ; the political and civil authority only transferred to the crown. 
In 1,786, some alterations were made in the bill; the offices of com- 
mander-in-chief and governor-general were for the future to be unit- 
ed in the same person, and a power given to the governor-general to 
decide in opposition to the majority of the council. The presidencies 
of Madras and Bombay had been previously, by lord North's bill. 

E laced under the superintendcncy of the governor and council of 
bengal, but by this bill that point also was confirmed. 

12. When this bill was passed, it appeared from the preamble, tc 
be decidedly the opinion of parliament, of government, as well as of 
the court of directors, whose orders had for some time breathed the 
same spirit, that " to pursue schemes of conquest and extension of 
dominion in India, were measures repugnant to the wish, the honour 
and the policy of the nation." It had previously been resolved by 
the house, " that the maintenance of an inviolable character for 
moderation, good faith, and scrupulous regard to treaty, ought to 
have been the simple grounds on which the British government 
should have endeavoured to establish an influence superior to other 
Europeans, over the minds of the native powers in India ; and that the 
danger and discredit arising from the forfeiture of this pre-eminence, 
could not be compensated by the temporary success of any plan of 
violence and injustice." 

13. Such was the tenor of the resolutions of the house of commons 
in 1,782, recognised as the principle of the bill of 1,784, and farther 
confirmed by an act passed in 1,793. In all we perceive an evident 
allusion to those mal-practices of the company's servants, which will 
for ever, it is to be feared, remain on record, to tarnish the lustre of 
our first victories and territorial acquisitions in India, and to detract 
from tlie reputation of persons, whose names might otherwise have 
justly stood high on the list of those, from whose pre-eminent talents 
and abilities, the nation has derived both glory and advantage. 

14. The English system of jurisprudence had been extended to 
India by lord JNorth's bill of 1,773, but under disadvantages extreme- 
ly embarrassing. The difference of manners, habits, customs; the 
difficulty, if not impossibility, of mingling two codes, so very dissimi- 
lar as those of Britain and Hindoostan ; the forms and technicalities 
of the English law, totally unknown to the native courts • the ap- 



MODERN HISTORY. 395 

parent injustice of subjecting a people to laws (o which they were 
no parlies, and to which, of course, they had given no sanction; 
these, and other difficulties have been acknowledged by those who 
have had to administer the laws under the new system, in India, 
as having prevented those happy eflects taking place, which might 
otherwise have been expected from the introduction of the English 
jurisprudence. Since the passing of Mr. Pitt''s bill, however, much 
beneht has certainly been derived from the residence and superin- 
tendence of noblemen of the highest rank and abilities, as governors, 
general, and of judges the most enlightened, to preside in the Indian 
courts. The first reforms that uere attempted under the new system, 
though not so successful as might bo wished, proceeded from those 
two most amiable and highly respected personages, the marquis 
Cornwallis, and sir William Jones. 

15. From the conduct of lord Cornwallis, and his successors lord 
Teignmouth, and lord Mornington, now marquis Wellesley, it is ex- 
tremely evident that tiie system of neutrality and forbearance pre- 
scribed by the resolutions of parliament, and preamble of the act of 
1,784, would have been scrupulously adhered to had it been possible, 
consistently with the security of our settlements; but towards the 
close of the eighteenth century, the English were compelled to de- 
fend themselves tVom the most' formidable designs of the celebrated 
Hyder Ally and his son Tippoo Saib, who unquestionably had it in 
view to exterminate the British, and probably all other Europeans, 
fiom the peninsula of India. 

16. The result of these conflicts, which took place in Mysore, and 
the Carnatic, Avas the total overthrow of^ a Mahomedan dynasty ol 
only two sovereigns, commencing with a mere adventurer of most 
singular character, who having waded through crimes to his object, 
succeeded in placing himself and his son on one of the most brilliant 
thrones of the east, and in a condition to give very considerable 
trouble to the English government there. 

17. Hyder Ally, the father of Tippoo, was born in 1,722, and died 
in 1,782. Tippoo was born in 1,753, and lost his life in the celebrat- 
ed assault ol the capital of his new dominions, Seringapatam, inl,799, 
They were very different men, having been difterently edixated. 
The former had strong natural powers, which compensated for his 
want of acquired knowledge ; Ihe latter was vain of his scanty pro- 
ficiency in Persian literature, and a few otherattainments, toa degree 
of absurdity ; flmcying himself the greatest philosopher of the age, 
the wisest, bravest, and handsomest of men. Hyder was tolerant in 
religious concerns to a degree of indifference ; Tippoo, a bigoted 
mussulman, to the utmost pitch of intolerance and persecution. The 
former meddled little with religion. The latter contemplated changes 
in Islamism, as in every thing else, having, as a preliminary, substi- 
tuted a new era in his coins, dating from the birth instead of the flight 
of Mahomet. Both father and son were devoid of principle, but the 
former was much the greatest man. 

18. It was owing to the vigilance and prompt measures of lord 
Wellesley, that Tippoo was so opportunely overthrown; though hit 
proceedings were weak, they, were carried on with much duplicity 
and deceit, and upon principles of alliance which in other circum- 
stances might have become very alarming. Under the most positive 
and repeated assurances of peace and amity, he had intrigued with 
France, Turkey, the king of Candahar, (a descendant of the celes 
orated Aflghan chief Abdallah,) the INizam of the Deckan, and the 



396 MODEKiN HISTORY. 

Mahrattaa, for the express object of forming a strong confo<leracv tft 

extirpate tl)(' Eiii^lisli ; in his no^olii'.tions nil!) lli.> <-iHir;« i.l" (\,iv'-. 

IKW :Ui(i CoilMliDlihup',', iruh'Cli. :l- !;;;:! d.;Cl:;nd \Clii:,.;,;,ro :;^:.,:,.i 

the infKic'is gcinT.iiiv, whence it has been fi'a.-oualtlj cnucluui'il tij,M 
his schemes ot" destruction eniiiraced all the European po»\ers, li < 
Flench not excepted, had his projects l)ul hcen :i»iiC'X'.-^stiii. fHiin 
ri-itoly, lord Wellesley delected all iiis plots, and when il hecan.r 
itDpossihle to ij-eal tiiilher with him on any liiir groniids, i;y i., 
most decisive measures, ;ind I'apid moveiOL-iils, efi'celualiy averi- 
ed the blow that had been decidedly auued at the Jhia-ii enii.ire i:. 
hulia. - ' ■ 

19. On the lid! of Seringapatam, the Mvsoreati dDniiiiiou"^ \v> . , 
by allotments to the allies, the British, the iS'i/.ani,and tiie xMahra;;,. 
nearly reduced to the limits by which they were bounded betor>> l . 
usurpation of Hyder, and, a surviving representative (>( tiie liiu;' 
ilynasty, a child only live years old, placed on the tlirone. wiiii an 
acknowledged dependency on the liriiisli government. Tise ... - 
scendants of Tippoo being, however, liber.dly provided lor. ai • 
settled in me Carnatic, disturbances in the northern and north-wcM . 
pai-ls of the peninsula, among the iMahratta chieftains, occupied :; 
attention of the English army, in the early part of the presrut c ,i- 
tury, when a fresh opportunity was ;ilforded of triumphing over i ;■ 
intrigues of the French, \vho headed the advej-se ibrces, and eii.i ■ ;k • 
onred to procure for that goverument a cession of the di-tiici-' ; i 
trusted to their care; but the issue of the contest was entire!} i,i 
f ivour of the British. From this time the ascendancy of the Br'iti^ii 
in the peninsula has continued so decidedly established, as to reiuK i 
it needless to say any thing of the other European settlements. 

20. The acquisition of territory in Lidia, together uitli tiie new 
system_ of government and control, by rendering it necessaiy lor per- 
sons of learning and talent to reside there, have had the effect of im- 
proving our knowledge of those remote countries, and opened to u-^ 
a lield of inquiry and research, peculiarly interesting and ctnious. 
Among those who may be considered as paving most parlicularly 
contribe.ted to Ib.ese ends, we may reckon Mr. Wilkinsanu sir William 
Jones: the former by having first, xvith any real success, pursued the 
study of the Sanscrit language, the root of all the vernacular dialfcis 
of the peninsula, and thereby opened to the contemplation of the 
historian, the antiquarian, the philosopher, and the poet, whatever is 
interesting in the literature of all the nations east of tlie Indus; and 
the latter, by instituting the first philosophical society in those pails, 
and inviting the learned, in all quarters of the globe, to propose que 
ries in every branch of Asiatic history, natural and civil, on the phi 
losophy, mathematics, antiquities, and polite literature of Asia, and 
on eastern arts, both liberal and mechanic, as guides to the invesiiga 
lions of the persons resident in the peninsula, qualified to pnivue 
such inquiries on the spot, and communicafe to the world in general 
liie results of their discoveries. 

21. To this learned society, first established in Bengal, under Ihe 
presidency of sir William Jones, we are indebted ibr all those curious 
papers preserved in the several volumes of the Asiatic Uesearclu's 
and the Indian Annual Register, and which have so largely conliib- 
uted to enlarge the boundaries of oriental literature. 1 o the n.imes 
already mentioned, as having taken the lead in this curious braucii of 
science, we may add those of our countrymen, Halhed, Vansiilait, 
Shore, (lord Teigamouth, the second president, on t!ie deatli ot sir 



MODERN HISTORY. 99t 

WiHiam, 1,794,' Davie, Colebrook, Wilford, Rennoll, Hunter, P«ntlfy, 
Rlarsden, Ornie, Carey, Buchanan. Barlow, Harrington, EdmonStone, 
Kiik Patrick, ^c. 

22. At the commencement of the present century, it became ob- 
vious, to the nuiirims of Wellesley, then governor-g-,;neral, ;hat the 
state ot tiio I5ntish ^-mpinj in India absolutely required, that the per- 
sons .sent out to di.sciiarge the important functions of magistrates, ji-cisesj 
ambassadors, and governors of provinces, should have some Ijetter 
means of qualifying themselves for such high stations and compli<:aled 
duties, than were then in existence. His lordship's view ol' Uiese 
matters, as recorded in the minute of council, dated'August UJ, l.KOO, 
.s [lighly deserving of consideration, and his plan for forming snd en- 
dowing a college tor these purposes at Calcutta, reflect the highc^sl 
credit on hts wisdom and discernment, though the latter lias nol been 
carried into execution in the wa}- his lordship proi)osed, for want of 
funds. The East Iruiia College, since e-labli>I.ed in Hertlordslrire, 
nny be considered as entirely owing to tiie adoption by the company 
ot the enlightened principles contained in the minute alluded to. A 
svstem of oriental education i« now efl'ectually establislied, which, 
though on a mucli more contracted scale, and in a great measuie con- 
fined to Englaml. bids fair, it is to be hoped, (o accomplish most of 
the ends contempiate<i by his lordship in his ojiginal design of kniiiding 
a college at Fort William, in Bengal, namely, " to perpetuate the im 
mense advantages derived to the company from their possessions in 
India, and to cstaljlish the British empire in India on the solid ibunda 
tioMS of ability, integrity, virtue, and religion." 

23. Of the studies to be pursued, according to lord Wellesley's 
pl?n. a competent notion nia}' be tbrmed from the following list of 
pri tiissorsiiips and lectures : — Arabic, Persian, Sanscrit, Hindostanee^ 
Be igal, Telinga, Mahratta, Tamula, and Canara, languages ; Mahom- 
ed m law ; Hindoo law ; Ethics, civil jurisprudence, and the law oif 
nations; English law; political economy, commercial institutions and 
inleiests of the East India Compar:y. geography and mathematics; 
modern languages of Europe; Greek, Xatin, and English classics, 

f(Mieral history, ancient and modern ; the histoiy and antiquities o*" 
lindoostan and the Deckan ; natural hislorj' ; botany, ch-^^inistiy, and 
astronomy. 

24. Though the company saw reason to ■vvi<J'^»t>ld its couMtf:sance 
from the original institution, the studies afc^ve chalked out have l^een, 
in a great measure, adopted in the Hertfordshire college, and its g';n- 
eral success hitherto has been y/onounced answerable to ^he expecta- 
tions of tliose who were most solicitous in effecting its establishment 
The education of the young men, destined to fill the civil offices iu 
India, is now therefore partly European and partly Asiatic ; tijr so 
much of the collegiate establishment in India may be said to remain, 
that there the students, who have been taught in England the eiemeii;s 
of Asiatic languages, are enabled to advance to perfection, and lo be- 
come masters of the several dialects prevailing through th(! peninsula. 
Though the original plan of the noble founder of the college o( Fort 
V> illiam has not yet been adopted by the East India Company, yot to 
apply the words of one of the most distinguished of our orieritalists, 
** Ciood has i'een done, which cannot be undone ; sources of usel'ul 
knovvleage, moral instruction, and political utility, have bet;n opened 
to the natives of India, which can never be closed." Jn i,ti4, an 
ecclesiastical establishment, under the immediate auspices c-f govsriu 
in«Dt, was formed for India, the right reverend Dir. Thomas Faiishaw 

LJ 



S9S MODERN HISTORY. 

Mfddlefon bcin» consecrated at the archiepiscopal palace, at Lambeth, 
the first bibhop oi Calcutta. 

It must surprise the Eiig^Iish reader to be told, that the population 
of the British empire in India has been lately estimated at 90,000,000 . 



STATE OF ARTS, SCIENCES, RELIGION, LAWS, GOVERN- 
MENT, &c. 

1. The historical events of the eighteenth centiiiy have, we must 
confess, been found to be of such magnitude and importance, as lo 
occupy rather too large a space in a work professing to be merely 
elementary , but we should be compelled in a still greater degree lo 
exceed tlie limits assigned to us, if we were to attempt lo filter into 
Ihe details of the very extraordinary progress thnt lias Uikcn placo 
during the same period, in arts, sciences, and literature : some changes, 
indeed, have occurred, and more been contemplated, in religion, la^vs, 
and government, but in regard to the former, almost all things have 
become new : we have new arts and new sciences ; and in literature, 
such an overflowing of books upon every subject that could pussibly 
occupy or interest the mir.d of man, that the inost diligent compiler of 
catalogues would fail in endeavouring barely to enumerate them. 

2. it is somewhat extiaordinarj^, indeed, that this gieat and rapid 
advancement of knowled«;e has after all been confined to only a small 
jiortion of the globe. The great conln-rnt of Africa, though botu-r 
known ttian in past times, has made no advances in civilization. Asia, 
Itioujh many parts have been diligently explored during the last centu- 
ry, and a large portion of it actually occupied by Europeans, remains, 
as to the natives, in its original stale. The vast empire of China has 
made no progress at all. Japan has effectually shut the door against 
all improvement. South America, indeed, though labouring under 
difficulties unfriendly to the progress of knowledge, is yet reported to 
be making no iuconsiderable advances, particularly in Mexico, where 
both tlic arts and sciences are culti\ated with credit and effect. In 
Noith Amtvica, also, the arts and sciences and literature may certainly 
be said to be iii -i progressive state, but under circumstances of rather 
slow and pa"tial improvement.* 

3. Civilized Europe is \t,e only part of the world that can claim the 
credit of almost all that has Wen done towards the advancement of 
knowledge since die commencement of the eighteenth century, and 
onl}-- a few parts after all of civilized Europe itself. Turk<'.y has stood 
still, as well as her Grecian dependencies, till very lately. Sd.iIii. 
Portugal, and even the greater part of Italj.-, have laboni^ 

ficulties and restrictions exceedingly inimical to theii' 
and which have gready arrested their progress hi the caro. ; .. !, ,. ..j 
and philosophy. The north and north-eastern parts of Europe have 
produced many learned men, have been diligently explored, and ma- 
terials at least collected for great improvements ; other patts arc alsii 
upon the advance : but England, France, and Germany, are undoubl- 

[* The -writer must be under a mistake. Is it not acknowledged throug-h- 
out Europe, that the United Slates of North America are not only fartiier 
advanced, but faster advancing, in the discoveries of science, and that 
Uieir progress iu literature is more rapid, than any otlier ualiou of the new 
woild ?J 5, 



MODEilN HlSTORi^. 31)3 

edly the principal countries to which we must look for the most strfk- 
ine: progress in every branch of human knowledge. In these three 
countries, in particular, discoveries; have now certainly been madf, and 
principles established, whicii can never be lost again, and vvliich must, 
as far as they may extend, be constantly operating to the lasting iui- 
piovement of the world at lai-ge. 

4. It would be quite unnecessary to go back to the origin, or former 
state, either of the arts or sciences, now known and cultivated in Eu- 
njpe. It is pretty generally understood, that, comparative/y witli tb* 
age of the world, the}^ have been only very recently submitted to sucti 
piocesses as bid Aiir to !)ring them to the highest state of perfection 
One art has helped another, and new sciences been brought to light, 
that have greatly promoted the advancement of those before under- 
stood and cultivated. Galvanism has assisted efcctricity ; and gal- 
vanism and electricity together been exceedingly serviceable to 
chemistry ; chemistry to mineralogy, and so forth : new systems and 
arraiigeinents, and new nomenclatures, have contributed greatly to 
render every step that has been takffn more accurate and certain, and 
to place evoiy object of attention or inquiry more exactly in the rank 
and order it should occupy in the general circle of arts and sciences ; 
but the thing of most importance of all, in regard to the improvements 
that have taken place since the beginning or middle of the eighteenth 
century, is, that every thing lias beei* conducted exactly upon those 
piinciples, which the great lord Bacon so strongly recommended, and 
has, tln;ret'orc, been found conducive to all those great ends, the r.t-g- 
lect of which, in his own and preceding ages, he so much deplored : 
{•\ery thing has had a tendency to augment the powers, diniini-ih the 
paijis, or increase the happiness of mankind. 

5. Amongst the sciences so cultivated and advanced, since the sev- 
enteenth century, as justly to be regarded as new, we may rank chnn- 
hfn/, botany., electi-icity, galvanism, mineralogy, geology, and in many 
respects, geograjihy : every one of these sciences has been placed on so 
very different a footing, by the recent manner of treating them, and by 
new discoveiies, that it is better, perhaps, at once to consider them a.s 
new sciences, than to advert to former systems, founded on totally er- 
roneous principles, and which have been, on that account, very rea- 
sonably exploded. 

6. Chemistry, however, even in the course of the period before u<?, 
lias undeigone very essential changes ; it is now not only a very difTen- 
ent science from the chemistry that prevailed antecedent to the eigh- 
teenth century ; but the eighteenth centuiy itself has witnessed a re- 
narkable revolution in its leading principles : some, indeed, of the 
most important changes approach nearer to the nineteenth than the 
seventeenth century, if they do not actually belong to the former ; at 
pll events, it was not till towards the close of the eighteenth centui^ 
(hat chemical experiments had been pushed so far as to displace two 
of the elements (>f the old philosophy, and totally supersede the pre- 
vailing theory of heat, light, and combustion ; a theoiy wnich was 
itself not much more than half a century old. Stahl, the celebrated 
disciple of Beclier, born in 1,660, but Avho lived to-1,734, has the credit 
of being the author of the phlogistic system, which began to be attack- 
ed late in the last century, and seems now to be totally exploded. 
Whether the rival theoiy will ultimately maintain its ground in alJ 
r)oiiifs, may, perhaps, appear-still doubtful to some : the French claim 
to be the authors of the new theory ; but though the experiments they 
very ably conducted were higlxly conducive to the esJ^ulishmeatofitj 



400 MODERN HISTORY. 

the way seems to have been more opened to thern by others than they 
are willing to acknowledge, particularly by English observers. The 
pliloo;istic sv^teni was a plausible theory in certain respects, but in 
ot!}ers totaify indefensible ; and, perhaps, a better proof oC the utility 
ol" repealed experiments could not be produced, than that which as- 
certained, that, inst(;ad of the extrication of a particular substance b}; 
con.bustion, something was undoubtedly added to, or imbibed by, t lie 
combustible body, in cn-der to the separation of its parts ; that, in fact, 
in the actual process of combustion, affinity produces a double decom- 
position, and that a certain portion of the atmosphere entering into 
nmon with the combustible body produces all those appea:iixes 
whicli, under the former system had been attributed to the ex- 
trication of an unknown principle of inflammability, denominated 
phlogiston. 

7. The veiy curious experiments, made to confirm and establish the 
latter system, have been of the greatest importance in regard to other 
matters, particularly to that branch of the new chemistry which has 
been denominated ihe pneumatic system. The discoveries in this line 
of experiment, which has the air lor its subject, exceed, perhaps, all 
others in importance and interest : the analysis of the common atmos- 
phere has opened to our view a series of physical operations constant- 
ly going on, the most wonderful and delicate that can possibly be con- 
ctived : the respiration of animajs is of this description. The atmos 
phere is now known to be a most curious compound of two sorts ot 
air, or gases, (as thty have been named of late,) the one capable of 
supporting life and ilame, tne other destructive of both : in combus- 
ticjii, talc'.iation of metals, and respiration, the process is the same,— 
a decomposition of the atmosphere : the [)ure part is imbibed, and the 
impure part left sulyect to further contaniination, by what is giveii 
out by tlie combustiuic, calcining, or respiring bodies during the ope- 
ration ; lor, as it ^vas before said, tiie decomposition in all instances is 
a 'iouble one ; the pi'ftportion of the two parts of the atmosphere has 
been ascertained to be in a hundred, twenty-two of pure or vital, and 
seveiUy-eight of impure or azotic gas. 

B. Tlie discovery of the vital air is acknowledged by M. Lavoisier 
!o have been common to nimself with two other eminent chemists. Dr. 
I'iicstiy aiul the celebrated Scheele. Dr. Priestly discovered it in 
l,774,"S(;heele in 1,777, M. Lavoisier in 1,775 : the former seems im 
donbtedly to have the best claim to the discovery. M. Lavoisier, at 
first, called it " higlily respirable air ;" afterwards, as entirely essen- 
tial lo tlie support ot life, " vital air :" Dr. Priestly, who lived and 
died an advgcate for the phlogistic system, " dephlogisticated air :" 
and Scheele called it " empyreal air." It at last ol)tained another 
n;inie, from its being supposed to be the cause of acidity, viz. " oxy- 
gen gas." 

9. Who is justly to be accounted the lather ot the pneumatic tnem- 
i-try, it wotiW, perhaps, be hazardous to say : Dr. Black of E.linl)uigh 
lit- hail the cridit of being so, from his experiments on *he cajbonic 
,icid. St has been claimed for Dr. Priestley, Sch.eele, and AL Lavoi- 
sier : the discoveries in this line ceitainly constitute a grand era in 
iheiriij-tiy. ']>ie many various kinds of gases that h:-.ve been ifw 
diseovered ;. the very curious exp<;riments made lo ascertain their 
piiilVerti'es : the instruments invented to render such experiments cer- 
l.!-i'n , the new compounds that have been detected by th( ir. means, 
and their operation and etfects in almost every branch of physics, it 
V.ouki liar exceed our limits to describe but it is impossible not to 



MODEiixN HISTORY. 401 

notice the extraoidir.ary discovery ol the decomposition of water, 
wliicli belongs entirely to pneumatic chemistry. 

10. Till within less than hall' a centuiy ago, water was esteemed to 
be so ceilainly an eli;mentary principle, that but tew ever dreamed of 
its beiiisr oJierwise ; and it was almost by accident that it was at last 
t()und tl) be a conipound. In the course of certain pneumatic experi- 
ments, it was ascertained by Mr. Cavt:ndish, that xi^ater was produced 
by a combination of two particular gases : both analj'sis and synthesis 
were resorted to, to render this curious discovery more certain, and it 
was at length ascertained, not only that those two gases were constant- 
ly produced in certain proportions from the decomposition of water, 
but that water was as constantly the result of a judicious mixture of 

I those two gases : the gases thus constituting the proper principles of 
ivater, wf-re die vital and vi/Iommable airs ot the first chemical nomen- 
clature ot' modern days, better known now by the names of oxygen 
gas and hydrogen gas ; the latter evidently so called from its im- 
pi.u'tance, as a constituent base or radical of Avater ; we owe the dis- 
cnvi,ry of it to our countryman, Mr. Cavendish. The proportion be- 
tw(>en the two gases in these curious experiments has been found to be 
eighty-five of oxygen to fifteen of hydrogen ; both oxygen and hydro- 
gen being combustible, their combination for experimental purposes 
is brought about by inflammation, through the means of the electric 
spark. 

11. Having given this short account of the leading discoveries in 
pneumatic chemistry ; discoveries which have opened to us totally 
lew views, of certain physical operations of the first importance, and 
greatly extended our knowledge of chemical substances and their prop- 
erties, simple and compound, visible and invisible, confineable and 
unconfineable : we shall be compelled to be much more brief in what 
further lelates to modern chemistry. 

12. Of late years almost all the substances in nature have been ex 
amined ; and probably almost all the combinations of them exhausted : 
new metals to a large amount, new earths, and new acids have been 
disctwered ; the fixed allralis decomposed, and their nature ascertain- 
ed ; the whole range of chemical affinities and attractions nicely ar- 
ranged and determined, as hr as experiment can reach ; and many 
elastic aeriform fluids brought to light, distinguished from each other 
by their diflerent bases, which were totally unkno^vn before to natural 
philosopheis, under the forms in which they are now obtained ; and 
which have been thought deser\ing of being formed into afmirth class 
«>r kingdom, amongst the productions of nature : the proper distinction 
of the>e elastic fluids, or gases, as they have been denominated, (after 
a term adopted by Vanhelmont, signifying a spirit or incoercible 
vapour.) being that of some base, saturated with the cause of heat or 
expansion, called in the new nomenclature caloric ; by means of some 
vS these gases, so combined ^vith caloric, a power has been obtained 
of fusing the most refractory substances in nature. 

13. To render the nice and delicate expfjiments necessary in this 
new l)ranch of chemical science more accurate, numerous instruments 
have been invented, of very curious construction ; such as the eudicm' 
etcr, to measure the purity of any given portion of air ; the gazumiler 
to measure the quantities, 'vo. of gases; the calorimeter, for measures 
of heat ; to which we maj add various descriptions of theruwmc^:r$ 
and pyrometers, particularly the dijfercnlial thermometer, invented by 
xMr. Leslie, of Edinburgh, and its accompaniments ; the pyroscoj}e, 
Kit measure of radiant heat : tlie pkotometei\ to ascertain the intensity 

L 1 2 M 



402 MODEKxN HISTORY. 

of light ; veiy curious and delicate bnlances, some that are said to hh 
capanle of ascertaining a weight down to the seven millionth part 
deserve to be mentioned, as extraordinary instances of skilful woik- 
inausliip ; many different sorts of hygrometers also 'nave been con- 
structed, particularly one by the same ingenious experimentalist 
already mentioned. Mr. Leslie, calculated to render more correct the 
examination of all processes dependant upon evaporation; but it 
would be endless to attempt to describe the many instruments and con- 
trivances rendered necessaiy by the extreme delicacy and minuteness 
of modern chemical and pneumato-chemical experiments ; it is sufii- 
cient to state, in a history of the progress of arts and sciences, th.n 
in all instances, invention appears to have kept pace with experiment ; 
and that the world has been almost as much enriched by the new-in- 
vented means of discovery, as by the discoveries to which they have 
conduced ; while the skill and judgment requisite to construct tiic 
expensive and complicated instrum-ents indispensably necessary tor 
asctrtainmg the analysis and sj'nthesis of bodies, with such exquisite 
precision, as to quantity and proportion, have conspired greatly lo 
advance the several arts connected with such machinery, as well as tu 
quicken the intelligence and ingenuity of the artists themselves ; in 
this line, perhaps, nobody has acquired greater celebrity than die late 
Mr. Ramsden, the maker of the balance of the Royal Society, whose 
extraordinary powers have been alluded to above. 

14. Among those who have principally distinguished themselves in 
the improvement and advancement of chemical science, since the 
commencement of the eighteenth century, we may justly mention the 
names of Stahl, Fourcroy, Macquer, Lavoisier, Guytonmorveau, 
Berthollet, Klaproth, Vauquelin, Chaptal, Gay-Lussac, Kirwan, Ten- 
nant, Wollastoti, Priestle}', Cavendish, Black, Irwine, Crawford, 
Leslie, Hall, Thompson, Biande, and Davy. To the last of whom, 
our illustrious countryman, we stand indebted for some of the most 
remarkable discoveries, and most laborious analyses of compound 
substances, which have taken place under the new system ; nor has 
he been deficient in applying his scientific attainments to practical 
purposes, in his elements of chemical agricuUu'-e, and above all, the 
safety-lamp, whereby he may possibly, in combating the fatal effect? 
oi the fire damp in coal mines, have contributed to preserve the lives 
of thousands and thousands of his fellow creatures ; this discovery 
was the fruit of many most laborious, diflicult, and even dangerous ex- 
periments. 

15. When we consider the many uses of chemistry, and the im- 
mense advantages to be derived from every improvement of it in a 
variety of manufactures, in medicine, in metallurgy, in the arts of 
dying, painting, brewing, distilling, tanning, making glass, enamels, 
porcelain, and many others, we may easily conceive'that the progress 
and advancement of this one branch of science alone, during the last 
and present centuiy, must have contributed largely to the improve- 
ment of many things, on which all the comforts and conveniences, the 
happiness, the security, the well-being, the prosperity, and even the 
lives of men, deperd. 



BOTANY. 

\. BoTANV IS another ot the sciences, which, from the changes 
u has undergone, and the great progress it has made since the 



MODEKiN HISTORY. 403 

totnmenceinent of the eighteenth century, may justly be regarded as 
new. 

2. Already were the names of Ray, Rivinus, and Toizrnefort, well 
known to the lovers of this interesting study, forming as it were a new 
era in the history of botany, and imparting a lustre to the close of the 
seventeenth century, for which it will ever be memorable. Their at- 
tempts at arrangement may be justly consideied as the commencement 
of a career which was destined to acquire its full degree of deveiope- 
ment during the eighteenth centuiy, under the happy auspices of ihe 
most celebrated botanist the world ever saw ; the great and illustri< us 
Linnaeus. 

3. This extraordinary' man was born at Rashult, in the province of 
Smaland, in Sweden, on the 24th of IMay, 1,707, and beiore he was 
twenty -one years of age, had made himself so thoroughly acquainted 
with the study of plants, as well as with the merits and defecis of his 
predecessors in that line, as to conceive the idea of remodelling the 
whole fabric of systematic botany, and of placing it on a new founda- 
tion, namely, the sexuality of vegetables. This bold and enterprisin!» 
undertaking he not only projected, but accomplished with a rapivlity 
and success that excited the wonder and astonishment both of his 
friends and enemies. 

4. His first work was published in,l,730, being a brief exposition of 
the new principle on which his system was to "he founded ; ?nd the 
method may be said to have been completed in 1,737, when he pub- 
lished his Genera Plantarum, which contained a description and ar- 
rangement of nearly one thousand genera, comprising upv/ards of 
eight thousand species, and constituting what has been since known by 
the name of the sexual system. 

5. At first it was either opposed as a fanciful hinovation, or received 
with doubt and distrust ; but its fame soon began to spread, and tc 
bear down before it all opposition, till it ultimately met with the 
almost universal reception of botanists in ever}* country in Europe. 

6. In 1,742, Linnaeus was chosen professor of botany at Upsal, and 
in 1,753 he published his Species Plantarum. His authority was now 
supreme, and the impulse he communicated to the study of vegetables 
unprecedented in the annals of botany ; hence the various voyages 
that v.ere undertaken by his immediate disciples, Kalm, La'pling, 
Hasselquist, and others, or which have been since undertaken by their 
successors, aided by the munificence of princes, or the zeal of private 
individuals, as well as the various societies that were sooner or later 
instituted, with a view to the advancement of botanical knowledge ; 
amongst which the Linnasan society of London, founded in l,7tS8, stands 
pre-eminent, under the presidency of sir James Edward Smith, or.e 
of the most distinguished of the followers of LInnffius, and the pos- 
sessor of his herbarium, library, and manuscripts. 

7. The acquisitions thus made to the mass of botanical knowledge, 
are altogether astonishing. Botanists are now saiil to be acquainted 
with upwards of forty thousand species of plants ; and still there are 
regions of the earth unexplored, and flowers without a name, (" et sunt 
sine nomine Jlores.^'') 

8. We cannot, however, refuse to acknowledge that botany ha? also 
derived the most important advantages from such cultivators of the 
science as cannot be ranked amongst the discipies of Lhhwus, though 
they have equally contributed to the advancement of" the knowledge of 
plants, at least in the department of the study of their natural affini- 
ties ; the grand and ultimate end of botany, which Linn?eus himself 



•104 MODERxN ilisTORY. 

knew w<;ll how to appreciate, and even to improre, as may be seen in 

iiis prelectioiii^ publi^slied !)y Giseke, and in his Fragments of a JVutu- 
ral Method. Bui it was Itit ior the illuslrioiis Jus.sien, the most ac- 
couipli.siied bo/^nist of the piesent age. to give to tiiat nieUio.i ihe 
comparative i)crrection which it has actually obtained, an.'. lo erect 
the noble superstructure ef lii.s Genera PUnna-ruin ; a work e.\liibiliiig 
tlie nsosl philosophical arrangement of plants, as well as the most 
complete \iew of their natural affinities, that was ever presented lo 
(he coiiti-mplation of man. 

'I. This work was pubhshed at Paris in 1,789, and the vaturul 
nielh,>d vi' Jiissieu, which may be regarded as having at all limes 
stood ir. opi)ositio:i to the artificial method of Linnaeus, seems now to 
be advancing to a n^.ore direct rivalship than ever. Ev»;n iri liie 
works of such botanists as protess lo lie the disciples of Linna-us, there 
seems to be a leaning to tlie method of Jussieu ; but Avhetiier tlie 
natuial method of the latter will be sui'feied ultimately to prevail, or 
the .ntificial method' of the former, time only can show. 
^, 10. Great, however, as the progress of systematic botany has un- 
.doubtedly been, during the course of the last atid beginning of the 
present century, the progress of physiological bo«any has perhaiw 
be(;n still giealer. In proof of this, it will he sullicient to m.ention the 
nimes of Hales, Bonnet, Du Hamel, iledwig, Spallanzani, GaM-tiu-r, 
i'Cii'ght, Keith, and Mirbel ; each of wliom has distinguished himself 
ill tlie held of jihytological investigation, and eminently contributed to 
die advancement {>{ tiie science. vVbove all, we must not tail to men- 
lion the name of Priestley, as being the first who introduced into 'he 
■-tudy of phytology the aid of pneumatic chemistry, which, under the 
nappy auspices of Ingcnhouz, Senebier, Saussure, Ellis, and Davy, 
and lastly of Gay-Lussac and Kenard, has done more to elucidate the 
phenomena of vegetation, than all other means of investigation, and 
In": furnished as the foundation of the physiology of plants a body of 
the most curious and undoubted facts. 

11. Before we dismiss this part of our sulvject, it is not unfit that we 
should notice the extraoidinary progress that has been made al the 
same time in distinct branches of the science, as well as in the appli- 
cation of the arts of drawi.,g, engraving, and colouring, for the pur- 
poses of illustration, and tor exhibiting to the eye, at all times, in al 
|)laces, and at all seasons, the beautiful and interesting productions of 
the vegetable kingdom, in such pertectic)n, as, iri seme degree, to su- 
persede the necessity of living specimens ; sometimes so raie and in- 
accessible as to be out of the reach of the most scientific. There is 
no branch of knowledge which has furnished more splendid and elabo- 
rate works of this nature, than that of botany, or in which the arts have 
been carried to a greater degree of perl'cciic^n and delicacy ; and as a 
stuily so elegant and agi'eeable canno^ weii be rendered too general, 
it is pleasing to observe, that throuah llie improvements that have thus 
taken place, and the facilities alt'orded to such pulilicatioiis, not a 
mcvnth passes in this kingdom without huQ:ii additions being made to 
the general stock of botanical knowl(;;lge, in works of singniar beauty 
and conectness ; though far trom cost!}-, considering the pains bestow- 
ed upon them. 

12. The lovers of botany stand gieatly indebted also, to those 
leaned persons whoha\e in.ide it Iheir particular business to roihct, 
examine, and describe the plants of countries ami districts, and to 
supply them with distinct A7ora. both foreign and domestic, as tbo 
Flora Britaiinica of Smith, the Flora Angiica of Hudson, the Flyr? 



MODERN HISTORY. 405 

Seotica of Lightfoot, the Flora Cantabrigiensis of Relhan, the Flora 
Oxoniensis of Sibtliorpe, the Flora Londinensis of Curtis, the Flc;ra 
Gr*ca, the Flora Peruviana, the Flora Danica, the Flore Francoii^e, 
and others much too nurnorous to mention ; in the same class may be 
reckoned those works which are still further confined to the descrip- 
tion or illustration of particular genera of plants, as in our own country, 
the Carices, by Goodenough ; the Grasses, by Stillingfleet ; the 
Mentha? Britannica;, by Sole ; the Pines, by Lambert ; the Fucij by 
Turner ; and various others. 



ELECTRICITY. 

1. Though the property of excitation existing in omJer, (elektrottt) 
appears to have J^een known to Thales six hundred, and to Theopiiras- 
tus thrive hundred years before Christ, yet electricity, (which lakes its 
name from (his circumstance) and galvanism, as it is still calfed, may 
decidedly be regarded as sciences which have sprung up during the 
period to which our present inquiries belong. If Avas not, indeed, till 
towards the middle of the eighteenth centuiy that experiments in 
electricity were piirsued with any degree of ardour, success, or ad- 
vantage. Mr. Hawksbee wrote learnedly upon the subject in 1,709, 
but it was not till twenty years afterwards that Mr. Grey and M. du 
Faye at Paris, engaged in some experiments which contributed lo 
throw light upon the subject. Mr._ Grey, who resumed his experi- 
ments in 1,734, saw enough to lead him to suppose that the electric 
fluid and lightning were the same, which was not, however, effectually 
proved till the year 1,752, when the celebrated Dr. Franklin, of 
America, with great ingenuity, and no small degree of courage, ascer- 
tained the tact bv decisive experiments ; a discoveiy which he soon 
applied to practical purposes, by the invention of metallic conductors 
for the security ol buildings, ship?, &c., during storms. 

2. As experiments could not be profitably undertaken till a suitable 
apparatus was provided, it is equally evident, that the improvement 
of such apparatus must greatly have depended on the progress of the 
science^ The Leydcn phial for the accumulation of the electrical 
pov.'er in glass, was invotinMi -.Ko-.t ^ t-:- -...i f!.<. o-enera! apparatus 
gradually improved by^':lli '.;,:«. ' . ioo'h, Mr. Nainie, 
Dr. Priestley, Messrs. !\(;!> I, !. V. -■ . ■ . To professor Voita, 
of Como, we stand indelited ior two vt- sy ;'=<-'"l ^nd important electri- 
cal instruments, the electrophorus, and condenser of electricity. Many 
sorts of electrometers lor measuring the quantity and quality of elec- 
tricity in an electrified body, have also been invented. 

3. In 1,747 electricity begnn to be used for medical purposes, and 
wns supposed to be of efficacy in cases of rheumatism, dealhess, palsy, 
scrofula, cancers, abscesses, gout, ivc. ; i.'jt tlie progress of medical 
electricity has not iieen great, while the \v;.:it of an apparatus, and the 
knowledge and skill requisite to apply it properly, must always pie- 
vent its becoming any vc\y common remedy. 

4. Galvanism, which may be said to have been engrafted on elec- 
tricity in 1,791, was the discovery of the celebrated Galvahi of 
Holcgiia ; it has been called animal elecfric'ty ; his first experiments 
having been made on animals, and tending rnariifestly to Drove the 

tity ot the nervous and electric fluids, ihoogh this was Tor sbme 
time doubted. 31. Galvani discovered that, without any artificial 



identity of the 
time doubted. 
electricity, and by merely presenting some conducting substance to 



406 MODERJ^ HISTORY. 

different parts of the nerves or muscles of a dissected fr(^, violent 
motions nere produced, exaclly siinilar to those which were excited 
by a di.schnrge of the electrical inachrne. 

5. The (liscoverj- of M, Galvaiii has since led to very impoitant 
eiKis, through the great care and attention of M. Volta, who, improv- 
ing upon his discoveiy of the power of cor.ductors, has been enabled 
to supply the pliilosophical world with an instrument of veiy extraor- 
dinary powers, especially for purposes of chen)ical decomposition. 
At first M. Volta was led to supposi; that it required only a set of dif- 
ferent conductors, two metals and a fluid, to collect and distiibute the 
electrical matter ; he considered that, ujion these principles, he had 
produced an artihcial imitation of the electrical powers exhibited by 
the torpedo, Uie gymnotus, silujus, and tetrodon electricus ; but liirther 
discoveries demonstrated that there was a chemical agency going for- 
ward ail the time, and that much ilepended on the action of the riuids 
on the metals, which are all naturally excellent conductors, but I;rronie 
non-conductors when oxydated, some being more easily oxydated tL-^n 
others. The voltaic pile is a simple galvanic combiration ; a series 
of them forms a batteiy. The most perfect galvanic combination is 
held to consist in such an arrangement of metals, exposed to the action 
of an oxydating liuid, as are liable to very diflerent change^ ; the 
a'reatest and the least. In every simple galvanic combination, water 
js decomposed, the oxygen entering into linicjii with the metal, and the 
hydrogen being evolved. 

6. Since this discovery, many have engaged m electro-chemical re- 
searches, of the utmost importance, particularly our own countryman, 
sir Humphrey Davy. His experiments on the alkalis and earths, and 
discovery ot their metallic nature, being in themselves sutficient to 
show how wide a range of inquiry is opened to the experimentalist, 
by tliis powerful agent ; it being reasonable to suppose, that there is 
scarcely any substance in nature, either above or below the surface of 
die earth, that is not subject, more or less, to tiie chemical agencies 
of electricity. Heretofore the observations of the philosophpr were 
chiefly, if not entirely, conhned to those sudden and violent changes 
\\i)ich take place through any powerful concer.tration of the electric 
fluid. These new discoveries seem to afford him a fair .chance and 
opportunity of tracing some at least of those manifold changes which 
may be brought about in a more quiet, tranquil, and insensible nirui- 
ner i and which, in all probability, are incessantly operating effects, 
hitherto little known and little suspected. It is obvious that medicine, 
clu^mistiy, physiology, mineralogy, and gcfilogy, may all be gieatly 
assisted by a more perfect knowledge of such curious and hithei to 
hidden processes of nature Before the galvanic method of excitirig 
electricity had been discovered, many very furious experiments had 
been made, to prove the inrluence <jf electricity on tne atmospheie, 
niagnelistn, vegetation, muscular motion; in earthquake.^, \<^!c, iicis, 
and other natural appearances and operations ; all of which .ne iikely 
to become better known, and further illustrated, by the application of 
the electro-chemical apparatus, whicli, since its first invention, has been 
already greatly improved. It. may not be amiss tcfobserve, lli,\t nut; o- 
rology, as a particular branch of knowledge, has been greatly aided 
by ail the improvements spoken of above in chemistry and electricity, 
and in the invention of many instruments, very simple, but chiefly- Ic 
be lefeired to the eighfc^enlii century ; as the barometer, tlie tlieniiom- 
eter, the hydromeli-r, the pluviameter, or rain-gauge, the anemometei- 
auU fclectrometer already mcutioued. Amongst the most eniineul of 



MODERN HISTOUy. 407 

diose who have applied themselves to this study, we may reckon 
Mtissrs. Bouguer, Saussure, De'Liic, Uay-Liissac, V'au-Maruiii, Fer- 
g^iis«)ii, Cavallo, i^c. ; Dis. Frankliii, Blagden. and Priestley ; Messrs. 
Canton and Beccaria. 



MINERALOGY AN D GEOLOGY. 

1. Mhicralogy and geology are reasonably to be rc2:arded as vevo 
.'ciences since the close of the seventeenth century, havine; been cul- 
tivated from that time in a manner totally new, and greatly advanced 
by the progress made in other sciences, and the improvement of m;.ny 
arts. They are both, however, still so much in their intancy, that a 
veiy brief account of what has taken place during- the last ana piese.nt 
century is tiie utmost that we can attem[)t. 

2. It was not till tow;iids the middle of the last century, that th«; 
mofleiii scientific arrangements ol' minerals heo-an to occupy the atten- 
tion of naturalists. Tiiat indefatigable obseiver, Linnaus, did not 
overlook this branch of natural history, but introduced into the inelfth 
edition of his " Systema Naturae", pub.! ished in l,7r58, a sys4ematic 
view of " The Keo-nuin Lapidrum," which he flivided into three 
classes, ^je/rtf, 'mineral ■,mA^f<.fi^ilio\ maiiv onii r~. ami iilty-lrui' g'ciie- 
ra. In 1,793, Gmelin jvj.iibl'shed iIk- " Systema Natur:e" of Lin- 
•^'TEus, with alterations and impiiAenients. 

3. Linnaeus did not take tiie lend in such .nT.itio-cnu'iUs : in his own 
work he nwires the picre(ii>«- -vsienis of ni'.;n)c!iu-, who pubii-hed 
in 1,730 ; Wallerkw, in l.Vi"": Woiterxiurf, in 1,74!; ; Curthcu^c!'. in 
1.775: Justi. in 1,757; Cronstcdt, In i 758 ; and \'.f;ci, in l,7i;2, 
iijtmaMis, however, bns tin- cirdit of liaviui; lii'si roilured tlic science 
of mineralosry mto ; i.i-' - , r ■ <• ^,1- ,,:1 \',;;i!crius and hiniM-if un- 
dertook die arduous and ii;'/,iii:ni> n -k cii' lixino; die sjiecilic characlcrs 
of minerals. WalleiiusV htoii-I -3 Mcni ai.peared in 1,772. In 1,7!J1, 
Vellheim published bis >ysteni at bbun-wick. and in 1,7C2, Berga- 
man's mad'; its first appearance at Leit'-ic. 

4. Before this time tlic celebrated \N erner, i)rotessor of mineralogy 
at Kreyburg, in Saxony, had published a Realise on the classification 
of minerals, according to their external characters^, '.vliich was more 
fully illustrated in his notes to a translation of Cronstedl, whicli ap- 
peared in 1,780. Werner has olitained a name amongst mineiaior.ists 
and geologists, whicli stands deservedly high; though he seems only 
to have prepared die \\i\y for the obscrvalions and experiments of 
others, by an accumulation and description of facts and apiicarapces, 
extremely curious and valuable. The tundameatal principle in \\er- 
ner's mineralogical arrangement, is the natural affinit)^ of fossils, of 
which ho enumerates three kinds : the chemical, the oryctognosfical, 
and the geognostic. Mr. Kirwin first iiitroduced tlie Wernerian syj- 
tem into Britain, in h'S treatise on mineralogy, 1.704. 

5. in 1,773, the study of the regular or crystalline forms of mino'^als 
ceemed (o give a ne^v turn to minf;raiogy. The first work of emini nee 
ill iliis line was the Crystallographic of the celebrated Rome de I' 1 5lf», 
which was made the basis of the system of Hauy, published in 1,'01. 
Ail mineral bodies are supposed by this svstem to be r(;ducib!e by 
mechanical division to an integrant mnlecnle. From the form and 
component parts, it has been proposed to deduce tlic specific charac- 
ters. The forms of the integrant molecule are found to be three ; the 
tetraiiedjon, the triaisgular prism, and the parallelapiped. Miich 



408 MODEK>; HISTORY. 

attention has been paid to this systeTii, and it must be acknowledged 
that if the te?*s proposed were 'easily to be applied, and chemi«lry 
had proceeded so tar as thorouglily to enable us to distinguish between 
the accidental and essential inj:?rcdients of minerals, a? has been done 
m some remarkable instances \\itli much effect, more direct means of 
distino^uishing; minerals could scarcely be devised : but as things stand 
at present, there seems to be too much geometiy and chemistry ne- 
cessaiy to render such a system generally useful. In l,fiun, however. 
M. Chevenix, in the Annales de Chymie, gave great support to the 
£ysleni of Hauy, to the disparagement of that ot Werner, to whom 
nevertheless, he is careful to give due praise. Crystallization wiil 
long remain, probably, a subject of most curious research and inquiry 
among geologists as well as niineialogists; the appearances of it in 
prnnitive rocks, leading immediately to the grand question concerning 
the operations of fire- and water, which have di\-ided the cultivators ot 
this branch of study into the two parties of Pliiloiiists, who contend toj 
the ig-iieous origin of those locks, and the jyeptmiists, who refer them to 
an aqueous origin : of the latter of which, \^as the celebrated Werner. 

6. Many other systems, more or less connected with Werner's, liave 
been made public, as Brocharl's, Schmeisser's, 1,795 ; Babmgton's, 
1,796 ; Brogniart's, (a very usei'ul and valuable one-,) Kidd's, 1,809 ; 
Clarke's, 1,811 ; one by Mr. Arthur Aikin ; and, lastly, that of Ber- 
zelius, a Swedish chemist, who has lately attempted to establish a 
puie scien''fic system of mineralogy, oy the application of the electro 
chemical theoiy and the chemical proportions : as (his systcin is 
closely connected with the latest discoveries and improvements that 
have been made in chemistry and electricity, we sh^l' liore close our 
remarks f)n mineralogy, as a scJ^'ice by no means perfected, but open 
to further experimf'"t.i and observations, though very materially ad- 
vanctjd since tlie close of the seventeenth century 

7. (jieology has arisen out of mineralogy ; and though no new 
science as to name, is entirely so according to the principles upon 
wi)ich it is now conducted. Werner was for giving a nezc name at 
onCL- to the new science, which was a judicious step to take, though it 
has not been generally adopted ; he called it Geognosie : it is fit, in- 
deed, that it should be distinguished from the geolog)' of old. which 
only engendered a parcel of lanciful theories of the earth, unfounded 
on facts. How the globe was formed, is a very different inquiry [mm 
that of " what has happened to it since it was formed :" modern 
gt'ology is chiefly conversant with the latter ; to examine the interior 
of the earrti, as far as it can be examined, in order to understand the 
course of the revolutions and clianges that have taken place, and of 
wiiich we perceive the most manifest proofs : already very extraordi- 
(ioiy circumstances have been discovered, indicative of successive 
changes, both before and after any organic beings existed, and there- 
fore both before as well as alter the globe became strictly habitable; 
among the most curious effects plainly to be traced, may be reckoned 
the extensive operations of fire and water, the extinction of many 
t-pecies of vegetables and animals, and the very extraordinary preser- 
\ ation of some of the latter, bespeaking a state of congelation, at the 
moment of the catastrophe by which they appear to have been over- 
.vliohned ; remains of ansmais in places where they no longer exists 
fiU'\ the extraordinary absence of human reliquiae. The science of 
'comparative anatomy has been of great use in these researches, in 
which iK)bodv has distinguished hisaself so much as M. Cuvier, secre- 
tarv of the FiencU Institute. 



MODERNS fliSJ'OKY. . 40^ 

■ !' ,' - ' 

8. Many geological societies are formino^, or have been already 
formed, in ditfereiit parts ot Eiiiopc ami in Amfirica. and pnttc--Mr- 
sliip-? tounded in our uiii\c.'>:tKrs : but it nill be \imic, pi'iliap>, i'l lort 
the several ubservat !<)!..•< and discoveries iriakinir iii all [khIs ol tlu- 
n-crld, can be so compared, classed, and inirtliodi/ed, as to brinii out 
iuch results as may be admitted io^r certain and indisputable triiihs, in 
regard to the history ot the earth ^id ot'nian. In the mean while, we 
fshould consider that geo!o2,isls have always a field to woik in. alcimid- 
ing in materials so a[)p!icat)le to every useful ast as to promise cun- 
liiiual accessions ot" knowledo'c, not snerely scieiitilic, but oi n-A 
practical utility. 

We ought not, perhaps, to disn Iss this part of our subject, ulthoul 
noticing the very cmious geological map of England, jiubli.-hed by 
our countryman, Mr. Smilh, in 1,815, a work of great merit and 
oiiginality. 

GEOGRAPHY. 

1. Wf. have mentioned geography^ also, as among those scierires 
which may be regarded as almost new, not only because it is since the 
middle ot' the last century that we have acquir(;d a more correct kiiowl- 
(ii]l!;('. ot' the figure ot' the earth, but I'rom the extraordinary maiirjer in 
nhicli the whole terraqueous gloiie has been explored ol" late, and (he 
additions consequently made to our former knowieilge of its paits: 
the discoveries that have taken place since the close of the seventeenth 
centuiy, have, according to the French geographers, presented to ns 
two n(;w quarters of the world, and which have been denominated 
Jlnnh-ilasia and Polynesia. The folknving account may serve to ex- 
plain these additions to modern geography: 

2. The former is held to contain, 1. New Holland, and all the 
islands between twenty degrees west, and between tAve?ity and thirty 
degrees east of it. 2, New Guinea and the islands adjacent. 3. Neu 
Britain, New Ireland, and the Solomon Isles. 4. Neu- Caledonia and 
the New Hebrides. 5. New Zealand. 6. Van Diemaifs Land, which 
is separated from New Holland by Basse's strait or channel, and is 
about thirty leagues wide. 

■3. The division called Po/7/Hesj'«., consists o(, 1. Tin; Pelew Islands. 
2. The Ladrone or Marian Islands. 3. The Carolines. 4. "^rhe 
Sandwich Islands. 5. The Marquesas, which are very numerous. 
6. The Society Islands, about sixty or seventy in number. 7. The 
Friendly Islands. 8. The Navigators' Islands. The largest ish-nd 
HI this division is Owhyhee. one of the Sandwich Islands, a.'id the 
place where the celebrated circumnavigator, Cook, lost his life. 

4. Tlie voyages and travels conducive^ 1o these discoveries are too 
generally known-^o be much dwelt ujKjn in such a work as the prescMt. 
li \vill be sutticient merely to mention Uie namf:s of those who, .since 
the years 1,733 and 1,736*. (when the Spanish and French mathein;iti- 
cians undertook their celebrated missions to measure a degree ol' the 
meridian under the pole and at the equator,) have been employed l)y 
the dilhuent powers of Europe on voyagfts of disco\ery. 

6. Of the English we may enumerate : 

By I on.. 1,764 — l,7tiG. Mr. Harrii-on's time-piece ai'pbcd to the 
di>icove!y of the longitude. 

Wallis and Carteret, 1,766. Sailed together, but soon septJiteJ; 
Olaheile and other islands discovered. 

Mm 52 



410 MODERN !n STORY. 

Cook, three voyages : — 

F'irst voy^oe, 1,768—1.771. 'Jhe transit of \'emis observed at 
M.Uavr.i. in Otaheite, June. 1,769. New Holland, and Nt-w Z^lamJ 
e.xfil()re<l. 

Second voyage, 1,772 — 1,775, in search of a southern continent. 

Tliird voyage, 1,776 — 1,780, to discover a northern passage ; tatal 
to captain Cook, uho was killed at Owhyhee. 

Portlocli and Dixon, 1,785 — 1,788 ; principally to establish the fur 
trade, at Nootka Sound. 

Vancouver, 1,790 — 1,795, to explore the northern passage. Unsuc- 

Phipp.?, (lord Mulgrave,) north pole, 1,773. 

Lord Mc^cartney, China, 1,792. 

Lord Amherst, ditto. 1,816,1,817. 

Of llie Lrench we may reckon, 

Rougainvillf, 1,766 — 1,768. 

La Pey rouse, 1,7H3 — 1,788, supposed to have perished. 

D'Enlricasteuy, in search of La Peyrouse. 

Marchand, 1,790—1,792. 

The Spaniards appear to have employed Malaspina, an Italian, 
t,790, to explore disiant seas and countries; but his voyage was not 
[lUblished. Tliei^e were all of them voyages, not merely devoted tc 
geographical discoveries, but in which competent persons, in almost 
every branch of sci( nee, were concerned, to take account of whatever 
should offer itself to their notice, or be likely to contribute, in any 
miinner whatsoever, to the general advancement of human knowlec'gf ; 
astronomy, botany, zoology, meteorology, physiology, mineralogy, 
and geology. Trade and commerce, navigation and the arts, were 
constantly in the way of receiving illustration or improvement, during 
these fold attempts t'j advance tlie geography of the world, and soi^e 
'he diiTiculties which still seemed lo hang about that interesting and 
itni)orlant science. The names of Banks, Solander, Green, Sparrman, 
Forster, and Anderson, will descend to the remotest posterity, with 
that of Cook. 

6. War often, indeed, interrupted these pursuits, but the eighteentli 
centu'y has 'he credit of affording the following strong maiks of ihe 
progress of civilization and liberal ideas. It was during a continental 
ivar, tlu't a combination of learned and srientilic persons, Engii«^h, 
French. Kussians, Danes, and Swedes, in the year 1,761, laying aside 
llK'ir anii.oosilies, undertook the arduous task of observing, for astro- 
nomical and geographical purposes, a transit of V'eiius over the sun. 
It was ii! the midst of war, that France, in a very {sublic and formal 
manner, suspended all hostilities that could in any manner affect the 
oidgress or sate return of our English navigator. Cook; and Loth the 
French and Engli*-!), iji the course of their voyages of discoveiy, are 
known to have evinced a spirit of philanthropy and humanity very 
opposite to what had passed on such occasions in former ages. The 
improvement of ever)' barbarous an<l savage people they niieht visil, 
was among the fir«t thoughts of those who were engaged in these new 
adventmes. Some remarkable directitms lo this effect, given by 
Louis X\'l. himself to La Peyrouse, will for ever do honour lo ihn 
fnemoiy of that betiign but ill-taled monarch. The English circum- 
navigatoi's wcvv. not less attentive to these thin:j«, liut continually sought 
the amelioration of the savage conilition of the people the\''\ iailed : 
too often, however, quite in vain, or without any lasting tS'ecL 

7. It would he utterly out of our power to enter into any details of 



MODERN iiiSTORY. 4ii 

the numerous researches tliat have lifjen made in all parts of the elobe, 
since the spirit of discovery was first excited, which has so reniarkal)ly 
distiii}<ui>hed die period ol which we are treating. In the north and 
south, east and west, of both hemispheres, ahnost every region has 
been explored, and every inform?.t'cn obtained that can throw light on 
the history either of the earth or of man. The two peninsulas o*' 
India, Persia, Arabia, Egypt, and Abyssinia, the northern and the 
southern, and in some instances, the interior parts of Africa ; Syria,. 
(ireece. and Tuikey ; Norway, Lapland, Siberia, and even the wlUlf^ 
:>i Tarlaiy and Kamschatka ; New Spain; the back settlements oi' 
,Nordi America, and North America itself; Iceland, Greenland, &c., 
h:ive ail been visited by persons of science and learnirig, and are alitin.-; 
as ueil known now, as the most frequented and civilized {)arts of Eu- 
rope ; all that can be ascertained of their histoiy ; all that the re- 
mains of antiquity could unfold to the eye of curiosity ; all the animals, 
plants, minerals, they produce ; have been so amply examined, dc- 
Scrii;ed, classed, and methodized, that it may reasonably be supposed, 
that in very many instances, all that can be known is known. Amoni; 
the fnivels enumerated, the scholar, in particular, has beeii in no cr- 
duiary degree gratihed by the visits that have been recently paid ki 
Uiodcrn Greece, and by the able, classical, and scientific description^ 
vvhicii have been given of that very interesting portion of the coiui- 
neiit, ijy lord Byron. I\lr. Hobhouse, major Leake, Dr. Hoiland, -ii 
vViiii.iin Drumaioiid, Dr. Clark, lord Aberdeen, sir William Gell, and 
;"i;;;s of our own countrymen ; and by M. Pouqueville, wh.o ha\ ii;ii 
ipanied Buonaparte to Egypt, at the close of the last century 
iiong the first to explore those celebrated regions. 
... 1 iie new means of inquiry and investigation, have so kept yuct 
Wim die wide field lately opened to the world, that even utilividiiiil> 
have ijeen tbund competent to bring home with them from the nio^i 
remole countries, ample ':iformation upon all the gieat poitits that can 
po-.-MOiy mterest die curiosity of man ; a greater instance ol' this, could 
;:f.', perhaps, be produced, than in the case of a living traveller ami 
■uc, die celebrated M. Humboldt, of Pru?sia, who.-e multifariou- 
.iches, at a very early age, in almost all parts of the globe, have 
.1 more to the general stock of knowledge in the compa.ss of a wiy 
y^'uis, than could have been attained by ages of inquiry in lime.^ 
.11 i'.isl;int. In speaking of this very celebrated tra\elrt'r, wIiom' 
,iiiis of Spanish America in particular have lately excited .so nuijii 
.!ion, it is fit also to notice the removal of many restraints and iir,- 
...i.eiits in llie way of i?uch researches, through the more liberal 
. y ol' the mother countiy ; so far t'rom exjiressing, as would have 
. .1 tile case in tormer times, any jealou.sy of such a visit to her colo- 
. !•■, iU. humboldt obtained the express approbation and concurrence 
o. iiit: Spanish court. The removal of the court of Portugal to tlu' 
JSj.i/iis in the year 1,807, has also proved favourable ir» no small de- 
^i.-e io tbe prosecution of s-ich inquiries ; the king having, with con- 
-r.lerabie liberality, i),-\tronised such undertakings. 

9. The .sovereigns of Russia, from the time of Peter the great, 
thn)Ugh a natiral desire of acquiring a correct knowledge of their very 
e.xtended dominions, buiied, at the clo.se of the seventeenth century, 
in protound ignorance and obscurity, were careful to employ proper 
persons to make such discoveries, who so ably di.-^chaiged their coni- 
mi.ssions, that before the end of the eighteenth century, a very cele- 
brated German professor declared that they liad airiassed such a quan- 
tity of materials, entirely new, for the histoiT of the three kingdoms 



412 MODERN HJSTOllY. 

of natjire, for the theoiy of [he. eartii, for rural economy, and for an 
iiifiriily ofotlii-r ohji-ct* jclalivc to the arts and sciences, as wni-Iil 'in- 
plov many ieained nien fcr se^ eial yc;us, in their j^roper anaiiiTi nu-nt 
and liasMiication. TIh- ninies ot' Beerinp; and Spangherg, Pallas, 
(Miicliii. IMiiller, Cliapi)e D'AiUerocIii', Geoi^i, Lepi^tliin, are welj 
!;i>()\vn, as among those who liave most distinguished themselves in 
lh':-e northern and noilh-eastern expeditions. Among the inijirove- 
liKiits connected with the science of geography, and its progress, we 
slionld he ghid if we could do jnslice to tlie very leanied and eminenl 
perscn* who have, in a manner u'nknown before, devotetl their )in:e to 
(lie moie coirr-ct dehnention of the face of the globe, in the f oi,.(njc- 
tion (^f maps and charts, which seem to be advancing rapidly lo the 
I'.'ghest degree oi" perfection. M. d'Anville, wiiose lal-ours ii. mis 
wvy are so well known, uiay he justly consid<>red perhaps as l)a\ir.^ 
given the lirst stim.ulus in this line of study, to the gecgraj hers of 
n:odern times. 

10. As the .-cience of astronoiny is in many instances connected with 
Hecgraphy, we may here notice the changes that have taken place; ir, . 
regard to the totmer, during the last ::iid piesent centuries ; which, 
liowever, being only in the wav of addition upon the estahlislicd ))iin- 
ciples of the Copernican and iSewtonian syslen-.s, are not such as can 
be said lO have altered the character of Ihe science ivself ; and, mdeed, 
the additions that have been made are very easily enunieraied, thoigli 
li.ey must have cost much pains, and are the results oi very curious 
i)i.ser\atioi,s and iiitricate calculations, on the part of those to whom 
\m: stjiiri indebted for them. 

1 1 . We have added i\\o. planets to tliose formerly known as helong- 
ii !!• U) our solar system. The Geoigium Sidus, or Uranus, discovered 

y the celebrated sir W. Herschel, l,7ni. and its satellites, 1,787 , 
Ceres, by M. Fiazzi, at Palermo, 1,801 ; Pallas, by Dr. Olbers, at 
Hremoi, 1,802; Juno, by M. Harding of Lilienthal, in 1,804 ; and 
Vesta by Dr. Olbers, 1,8U7. To the f(!nner of these celebrated ob- 
servers we owe a most enlarged knowledge of tlie celestial regions, 
nnrticularly of the nebulous parts, from the application of his new 

elescopes'of most extraordinary powers, which have enabled us to 
ascertain that the milky-way, and other similar appearances in the 
rjeavens, are a congeries of fixed stars, in strata, prodigiously numer- 
ous, and exhibiting ver}^ curious phenomena. Of the immense an:ount 
of these stars, which may still have beyond them an unfathomable and 
.!iiexi)iorable abyss of the sam.e kind, we may form some corjecliue 
<iom the following statement of sir William bin-self, who ff;und by his 
;^T.i:ges, ill the year 1,792, that in the small space of foity-or.e minutes, 
! () lesn than 2-J8.GO0 stars, in the via hictm, l;ad passed ihioiigh tl:e 
field of view in his telescope. Sir William places our own system in 
Ihe via lactea. He has discovered, besides many ncAv stais, double 
^ud tii]>le stars, and what he calls changing stars. 

12. We have learned to correct our ideas concerning the su!;strnre 
of tin; body of the sun, heretofore considered as entirely of an igr.ec^is 
iialiiie. Tlioiigh its rays contribute largely to tlie production of heal 
on the ea'-th's surface, many veiy obvious appearances oujihl sooner 
t. have coin inced us of what now seems clearly to be understoo(J, that 
the sidi is not a body of (ire. 

I.-' The >.cience of aslror;omy has l)e<!i n.'irh promoted dunni>' the 
Imieof V hich we have Ijeeii tieating, by the iif.piovement or iiiveiilioii 
01 in: iiy curious and necessary i.istrunients, and tiie buiUiiiig and 
CHtablisliinent of regulai' observatories ; anr'. practical astronouiy has 



MODERN HISTORY. 413 

been carried to a veiy hig'i pitcJi, by the talents and ino:enuity of many 
vcrj- eiuin«Mit persons in Fraiire, Britain, Gerrnatiy, Ilalv, vvr. ; a- M. 
Clairault, d'Alenil.ert, De la Caille. La Plnce. l.u Grange. Bailly, Ih 
la Lamie, i^c. ; Bradley, Ma^^kelyn. Hersclicl. Hiilton. RoltiMin. 
Kei-i^uson, Vince, c-.c. ; Etiler, 3Iayer, Boda, Biancliini, Bo.<ci>> ich. 
Frisi, Piozzi, .vc. 

14, We have spoken elsewhere of the travels, expressly undertaken 
in 1,753, lo measure in the northern and southern parts ol the world, a 
decree of the meridian, liy which die fissure of the earth was as(ertain- 
ed to be an oblate spheioid, according; to the conjectures of sir I.-.iar 
Newton, and contrary lo the assertions of the Cassinis and Bernouilli. 
who had for some lime insisted that the polar diameter was loiigei 
than the equatorial : all the experiments seensed lo concur in jMoviria; 
the reverse. The steps that were taken, ni the years 1,7(>1 and 1,7(19, 
to determine the parallax of the sun, by observing: the transit of Venus, 
alford another strong proof of the extraordinary zeal and resohition 
with which science was cultivated duriisg the period of which we have 
been treating. On the recommendation of Dr. Halley, who had oIj- 
served a trans'* of Mercuiy at St. Helena, but who did not exnec! to 
live lo see a transit of Venus, and who in fact died in 1 ,742, mathema- 
ticians and astronomers were sent out in the years before mentioned, 
both from France and England. 

15. Among the modem inventions appertaining to astrononi}', be- 
sides the instruments absolutely necessaiy to correct observation, we 
may reckon those curious and elegant machines, e\hii)iting the moti<»ns 
ana phenomena of our solar system and ils several pails; our orreries 
planetariunis, tellurians, luniuiunis, ice, all of which may be consider- 
ed as extremely interestmg and ingenious contrivances. 



1. It would be useless lo attempt to give any circumstantial account 
of the ])rogress that has been made in other sciences, during the period 
of which we have been treating, and vain to s<'ek, by a mere eniiiiu- 
ralion of names, to do justice to the many emijient and illustrious per- 
sons who have distinguished tliemselves in varioiis parts of the w<)rld, 
in every branch of learning, useliil and ornamental, since the com- 
mencement of the eigb.lcenth cenluiy. The numerous biographical 
works, chronological charts, ciitical and philosophical journals, "wiiich 
have from lime to time been published during tin's p,c-rio;l, may suf.'jilv 
information much more full and copious than would be at all consistent 
with the limits of this work, already extended beyond their orierlnal 
design. As, however, the surprising burst of intellect, investigatioi.;, 
and enterprise which has so marked and distinguished the 1:>>1 and 
present century, appears to have been in a great degree connected 
with the history ol' JMirope (hiring the same period, we shall take a 
brief view of tlw latter; bt-ginning with England atid I'r.tnce ; the 
two countries which seem in several re-^jx-cts to l<a\(; had the nest 
considerable share in the changes that have taken jjlace. 

2. At the period ()f the dea'hs of qvieen Anne and Lewis X!'.'. 
(see Sect. LXIV.) England ami France ap|)ear to have stood in situ'i- 
tions diametrically opposite. England had just obtained all that slip 
wanted from a revolution ; France had scarcely begun to t'ee! that siie 
stood in need of one. England had succeeded in placing her civil and 
religious rights on a sure fooling ; Fiance was as yet but lillle sensible 
that hers had been greatly violated. England was rtcovering irom a 

Mm 2 



414 MODERN HISTORY. 

stato of misnile and licentiousness , France was declining more than 
ever inio such a condition. In Kng'land, Newton had estaMi^hed hii? 
new system of philus()j)h3% and Locke illustrated (he principles t f a 
Irte }j:nverMnient : in France, Descartes stili held the minds of men in 
a stale ot" la^cinatton and encliaiitment, and the pcrple knew not what 
it was In Ik- tiee. 

;{. 'JMie French .i;-overiiiTient, by too g-reat severity in political aiKi 
reli{>!ous matters, liad compelled many cf her subjects to taUe retiij^-e 
I!! ioreigo countries, ^\hele they wc.eat libcMt}' to ir.ake their own le- 
(It ctions, to print and to publish their thouiihls upon tlie comparative 
(ir-potism of tne coiintiy fiom which they had been driven, and the 
delusions to which the subjects oi" the laltei' were exposed. 

A. Among: those who iiad been thus lianishe(i. or compelled to retire, 
noe-ne could liave done more to unsettle the minds of his countryn.en, 
in rejiaid both (o j'cliii;iori and politics, than the celebratid Hayle. 
His object appears, howev(;r, to have l;ecn mcrdy to wxactile them ; 
for his ^vhole work is a tissue of doubts and difliculties, whi'.h he had 
no disposition to resolve, but to leave lo every man's own judgment to 
determine, after having seiy impartially staled all the arguments and 
all the facts he could possibly collect, on both sides of every question. 

5. The French had bi^en so long used to submission, that nierel}' to 
teach them to doubt was a grand step towards a revolution in their 
opinions ; but Hayle did not live to see the seeds he had been sowing 
come to any jjerlection. ft was not. according to the account of the 
I'rench themstilves, till \'oltaire, partly in a state of exile, had visiied 
England, that they began to ripen. In England, Voltaire became ac- 
quainted with the philosophy of Newton and Locke, and saw some o4 
liie best political principles of the latter established and in action ; 
but I eiTig tl'.e guest of Bolingbiok(!. his deistical princi[)les, which 
v\ere very ca.ly made known by a passage in his tragedy of (Edipus, 
nr'de'went no change, or were probably more deeply lixed and con- 
finu(!d. 

fi. Though Shaftesbury, Wolston, Collins, Toland, Tindal, and 
others, had attacked re' cfation. and eithei' openly ov insidiously scjughf 
to imiine the im'i is of the English with their (l('i,4ical principles ,• the 
public in geneial were little atfected ij}- their wiitiiigs. Men of supe- 
rior talents, supeiior creilit, and veiy 'superior learning, had lived, oi 
were living, capable of giving a different tone (o the teelings of the 
people. Neuton, Locke, Addison, Stc<;!'.', Claikc, Swift, N;c., were 
amply suflicient to suj)po.rt the cause el" leliglen ; and not only to de- 
ll-nd the vei3- outworks of chri.slianily. but io avert the shafts of ridi- 
cule, and sv\ at nauglit the sarcasms of infidel ily. In those admirable 
periodical papers, the Spectator, the Guardian, the Tattler. &:c., we 
may trace a direct and most benevoler.t design of rescuing the lisiiig 
2:<'iieration from tlie coniagion of bad example-, and the ii;llueiice of 
(a.'se firinciples. 

7. Ill France it \vas oih'iwise : ileism, though weak against the 
plain evidenr(:sof Christianity, was strong .-gainst, the fai'.aticisin of a 
l)i.il>iled, and the superstit'en of a coriiiiited church. The banter of 
\'o!taire soon began to take efiect, y.hen aimed at things and persons 
so vulnerable as the monastic orders, and the controvc-rled poii'ts in 
di.sjMite between tin; .Jesuits and .iacseirsls. The defence of religion 
also, in cotisequenci! of these disgraceful and puerile c(>nllict'-, and ttie 
plausibility of the attacks that were made upon it, which stiuck hard 
at lis abuses, iell into hands little capable of wielding ihe weapons so 
effectually employed in England. The dread of derisicvi too soon 



MODER>i HISTORY. 4lB 

damped the spirit, of pulpit eloquence, which had cast such a lustre 
on the names of Saurin, Blassillon, &c. ; and converted even the chris- 
tian preaclier into a philosopher of the modern school. Among those 
uho fnst appeared in defence- of revealed reli2:ipii ag:ainst the deists, 
Ihe French Ihemselves have particularly mentioned the younger Ra- 
cirie, the cardinal de Polignac, and M. Le Franc, de Pompignan. 
'J'he first .vrote a he.'vy poem, which few read ; the second a long 
philosophical poem in Latin, Avhich not many could read ; and the 
las! Published some sacked odes, of which Voltaire found room to say, 
with his usual wit, " Sncres ih sont, car personne ny (ourhe.^^ Though 
\'ol)aire might have imbibed his deism in part tVom Boling1)roke, it 
was plainly not a plant of English growth ; but it proved to be sadly 
congenial at that time to the soil of France. 

y. The regency had wrought a great change in the principles and 
manners cf that lively people. The profligal.^ habits of the duke of 
Oi leans opened a w^de field to liliertines and freethinkers, and^ natu- 
r.dly encouraged them to speak their minds more freely upon all suh- 
jocts than would otherwise have been consistent with the spirit of the 
government. Religion and morals, indeed, could not have received a 
ereater blow than from the extraordinaiy elevation of the infamous 
Dubois to the rank of cardinal, and to the archbishopric of Cambray, 
so lately filled by the amiable and virtuous Fenelon. 

9. While the morals of the French were thus becoming daily more 
depraved, the manners of the English were evidently much improved. 
The grave and austere character of William III., the correct deport- 
ment of Mar}% and iier sister, queen A.nne, had effectually checked 
tlie licentiousness of the two preceding reigns, and given encourage- 
meiit to n s( t of writers peculiarly capable of amendiii"; the v^ge. of 
mcii'c Mi; ' f lie piety and sound morality, and giving a nettcr tone to 
lb;.- :i;: \:^ :i ;iis of the public. Instead of the gross indelicacies which 
liad d:^-i;!MC!j(l the writings and degraded the talents, of Vanburarh, 
Relin, Congreve, and evcn'Dryden, the taste and manners of the nation 
derived great improvement and advantages from the more chaste and 
correct pei formanccs of Addison, Steele, Rowe, Prior, Pope, Thomson, 
Akenside, &c. The stage underwent a wholesome reformation, and 
in every department of literature there appeared a nianifest leaning 
towards whatever could conduce to 'purity ol sentiment and delicacy 
of fee/ing. 

13. Had Voltaire carried back with him from our shores, as he 
might have done, a purer foiin of Christianity, and a bettei system of 
morals, ns well as a more correct philosophy, and sounder principles ol 
government, he might have conferred a lasting benefit on his country ; 
a benefit the more timely and critical, as it would possibly have pre- 
vL-uUd some of the worst evils which befel that unhappy nation in her 
subsequent struggles for liberty. Rayle had taught the French to 
iluii!)t : Voltaire, having- taken a near, though imperfect view of Kng- 
la.nd, ti.uglit them to liiink and to inquire : while a greater man than 
hiii'self was contributing, though more slowly and quietly, to the 
same end. t^ , j m 

11. Almost at the veiy time that Voltaire was in England, Montes- 
tiuieu visited the same countiy ; hut appears principally to have con- 
fined his views to the great object of his researches, the spirit of her 
laws, and the leading principles of her admirable constitution. There 
lie learned to admire, in its purest form', a liniited monarchy, and a 
system of jurisprudence, equally adverse to tyranny and licentiousne^ ; 
equally friendly to the wlwlesome authority of the magistrate, and the 



4iG MODERN HISTORY. 

}v>>[ lights of the people. Montesquieu vho« ever, (thouplt in his Pi"-- 
-i.Mi Letters he had betrayed a leaning towards deism.) mo\ediiia 
titio distinct from that generally taken by the philosopher.^ of llxf day. 
While X'oltaire very soon manifested a desire of taking (lie leailof ali 
llie wits and fntethinkeis, however different their talents, their charac- 
ters, or (heir principles, Montesquieu was not displeased to be !'::fl to 
himself, and to leave his gre:.t work to make its own niipressions, hov.- 
evt-r slowly, on sensible and ingenuous minds. Its fust eifecls of a/.y 
importance may, perhaps, be traced in the remonstrances of the par- 
liaments, wiio began to take a higher tone after the ijubiicalion of 
L'c'iprit (les Lois, ami to consider themselves more in the light of rej)- 
resentatives of the people. 

12. A number ot veiy extraordinary men were beginning at the 
same lime to draw upon then'.selves the attention of the A\()rid, and to 
ei»iplx)y their talents in different lines, and often ujion very (bflerent 
prmciples, to enlighten the world, and cniancipatt^ it from the thral- 
dom of ancient prejudices and inveterate abuses. Among these, how- 
ever, none were more extravagantly eccentric than J. J. Jvousicai:. 
This extraordinary man was decidedly for new modelling the whole 
system of political society, and reducing it to principles which existed 
only in his owfi imagination. Not having ever seen a race of savages, 
lie fancied they must be the more perfect the nearei tiiey Mere to a 
state of nature; and being tormented with the restraints of civilized 
iociety, he concluded civilization itself to be an evil. These sophisms 
served to render him the idol of the equalizing and destroying deu. »- 
gogues of the revolution. It was impossible to resist the impressions 
made by the captivating^ pictures he drew ; but they seldom had any 
better effect than that of rendering his votaries as dissatisfied with the 
world as he himself was, and bewildering their imaginations with 
loubts and difTicukies innumerable. He knew how to appreciate the 
• ibiime morality of the gospel, though he could not regulate his own 
a.tions by it; and having found in the bible, as in all other cases, 
something that dissatisfied his restless and iriitable mind, and revllir.g 
what he could not approve, or did not sufficiently understand, he <ei- 
tainly did as much mischief to the cause of revealed religion, calling 
himself a christian all the while, as the worst of his deistical conteni- 
l)oraries. His opinions and his actions, as exhibited in his own 
wiitings, will for ever render him an object of admiration mingled 
with pity, if not in some instances witli al'ihorrence ! 

13. But it was, in no long course of time, discovered (hat the free 
opinions that were afloat, and which were as various as the person; 
who entertained them, and who had as yet no common bond of union 
as Voltaire, Rousseau, Buffon, Diderot, D'Alembert, Duclos, Hehe- 
tins, Marmontel, Condillac, Raynal, Volney, (to name but a kw,] 
should by some means or other be embodietl and consolidated, th;.( 
the whole of their several thoughts and observations on diffuient sul> 
jects might be presented to the world in a niass. This was the oi-igir. 
ot] that great and volumiiuius und»;rtaking, the Encyclopedic, spoken 
of before, planned by Diderot and D'Alembert ; and which, to say 
the least of it, seemed to be a treasure of universal science, far more 
comprehensive, at least, than any thing of the kind before attempted. 
being not confined t.' what might strictly be called the aits and 
sciences, but extending to every question of government, civil econ-i- 
my, and finance. 

14. The Dictionnaire -sncyclopedique, amidst many faults ana ea. 
travagances, contained ut» 'oubtedly much important matter, written ip 



MOD£Rx\ [J! STORY. 41? 

so agreeab e a etyle, as lo be admirably fitted to excito and promote 
a thirst nlU'r central kiKmledo^e, universal inquiry and investis^ation 
a contidcnco in private jiidg-incnt, and a i)iojndire a;i:ninst every tbin" 
that ;'i>i)cnrod to have no\)ther support than custom and autii()ril}\ 
^Vheat nii,a,Iit be torn up with tiie tares, and lares often sown inste;.ii 
ot" com : but it must be acknowledg-ed that we stand indebted to llie 
projectors ot" this work for the detection and extirpation ot^ many 
cuTors, and the powerl'ul stimulus given by their movements to tlie 
spirit of free inquiry and useful research. 

15. The persons enga-ged in it have been so s:enera!!y called phiJos- 
o})liers, and have been styled such in so many histories of the French 
revolution, that it is almost necessary to observe that the greater pan 
of them hore little resemblance to those who had heretofoie been dig- 
nified with that title. The regent, duke of Orleans, though dissolute 
in his habiVs of life, was a man of taste, talent, and inlbrmation ; so 
iliat the savc.ns of France, who had heretofore been a retired order of 
men. became about this period the life of society, and the ornaments 
(if the highest circles in the metropolis. .Some tew, indeed, still ke,it 
at a di>^lance from the court, but, generally speaking, such was the 
slate t.f things during the regency ; and afterwards, when Le^vis XV. 
fell into that disgraceful course of life, which clouded his latter days, 
and •'•ulijected him and his mistresses to the censure of the clergj^^ 
even Voltaire, whom the king personally disliked, and the Enc3-clo- 
panlists, as enemies to the clergy, were taken into favour. They 
were often indeed dismissed again, but never entirely driven iVom 
court. 

If). This change of public opinion, even in the highest circles, m- 
t'-oduccd the learned into places where they never appeared before, 
and gp.ve them a new character. Wliile the influence which the men 
of letters thus began to acquire in society, obliged the noblesse to 
chai'ge their' habits also, and to mingle with those who before formed 
a distinct class ; it obliged them also to cultivate learning themselves, 
and (i\\-n the teinales found it necessary to become more or less 
philosophical. 

17. In the mean while some of these modern philosophers had otlicT 
European courts set open to them, particularly in the northern p^■rts 
of Europe, ^vhere a greater degree of liberty in the article of opinion 
already prevailed, very different from the bigoted and Machiavelian 
]tr iciplesof lloine and Italy, which had hitherto borne sway. Gath- 
er e 11. of Russia, and Frederic of Prussia, through a laudable (\e:.\rp 
pi (Ijably of improving and enlightening their semi-barbarous domin- 
ions, invited thither some of the most busy of the French literati ; but 
with little judgment or discrimination.'^ Frederic, besides Voltaire, 
D'Aleiubert, and Maupertius, gave free admission, and even encom-- 
agement,to the atheist t.a Methrie,the marquis D'Ai-gens,and the abbt- 
de Prades ; and Catherine received, and greatly patronised "> his 
latter years, the celebrated Diderot. Th'us,'^with the kn'"»ff;<%« «i'i'l 
learning which the new philosophers really possess*-'^ scepticism anrf 
iiifid<dily were spread far and wide, and tho«i was a sad mixture of 
darkness and illumination In all thev t^uglit. 

Hi. The French revolution has been attributed to the literati, or 
philosophers of those days ; but we should greatly err, ii we were to 
suppose tlint th"-^ cnntcmpiated generally such a dissolution of thingg 
as at'leiuards tiok place : manv, indeed," were dead before the revo- 
lution comnenci;d. Neither Voltaire nor Montesquieu were repub- 
licans: the former had a supreme contempt for the populace; and 

53 



418 MODERiN HISTORY. 

by his flattery of Catberine II. and tlje m?irchioness de Pcmpadour, 
»vouIt' seem Co have hail little <>t the repiihlir.an spirit in \vm. Indeed 
it has heen asserled of hiin, tiiat '■ lie loved kiiii;:s." Jlaynal is said 
to have shuddered when he saw his own violent imprecations on «les- 
po'isni and tyranny brought into action. Son;e, however, undoubted- 
ly threw aside all restraints, openly declared thejnselves deists, atheists, 
i^c, and to llieir abominable blasphemy and intidelity we ir.ay rea- 
sonably impuie many ot the evils which markeo those dreadful times: 
but, in tru'li, the history oi opinions ceases to be connected atler a 
short lijne widi llie French revolution. It veiy soon became a struji- 
tfie oi passions and private interests, and at length termiiiated in a 
r.itastnipheiiS t'atai to the literati as to the thione and the altar, 'i bat 
liilal instrument, the ^w?7/(///ne, so much spoken ol at that time, w:s 
-.taimrd with die blood ot" some ol" those very persons wiio had con- 
Iriliuted most to the advancenient ol' knowledge, and the piopagnticn 
111' liberal ideas. 

3 9. The impulse, however, was now given to two of the most curi- 
ous, ingenious, and inquisitive nations ot" Europe, and m>thiiig tould 
possibly «iACved the raj.iiiily with which eveiy branch «it" science has 
?incu been cultivated ; in Hritain, constantly with more- steadiness, 
gravity, and unignient, than in France, though not with more zeal and 
iclivity. ""J'he Germans, in the mean while, in the noitliein parts 
:n(;r.'; parlicniaily, seem to have devoted their time to studies ot 
rather a <iili'erent description, being kr.owii chieiiy ibr wt.rks ui' in- 
it-nse research and most protound learning. Kxperimenlal i)hilosoi by. 
natural hi>'oiy, and chemisliy, have indeed leen also cultivated '1> 
iliein <vilh coiisiderable success ; but in woiks ot" fancy, wit. a'.'. 
Ifuniour, Ihtfy have not acquiieo so nuicb credit as their neighl ouis. 
A :5i),gii)ar dispositJt)n to imiulge in tales of wonder, chivalry, and 
ksijiii-enantry, has been manit'esled in most ot' their works ofun^gi' 
rjiiiMu: ?r.d in metaphysics, they have inoduced syslem.-, \^h!ch, v\h:fe 
'(I'V in;'ray an extraoidinary talent lor tbe ii,vesi:g;ilion ot" stu I* idi- 

• -.■ 'iljects, are certainly more to Le lidmucd lor their ii:g« in::' 
■ ; • -^'ir utility. 

"•'.) couniry in Eurc^pe, perhr.ps. can liave undeigone gr< ;.!t , 

1 L.ents. during the periofl ol which we have been liea'irg, tt.Ji 

• ' lut her improveinent has not been so nnjcli j>r(igressi>e ..s* 
-uK.'rii. 'ilie mighty genius ol" Peter the gieat determined ir;i!: to 
introduce his own extensive empire at once into the conm-onweailh of 
Lurope ; and, instead of waitii:g to give bis sul jecls a c;'j->acity liii 
i!np!o\ ;ne themseives, as other nations bad done, fie eafer'y ao'op-ed 
I-'-'. Mial iiad been discovered e!sev\ here, aiiii comcited lii> lude peoo-e 
imo a civilized nation, just as tar as such methods cfjiild leacii. lie 
tandit them to adopt and imitate what tiiey were as ye» in no c«.i.di-, 
(Kill U) i.ivent, or even improve, arid left it to his successors to tiil up 
lb- g;ijis iK-.t might remain unprovideil lor at the time of liis de.-tb. ' 
his subjects, Ol vjiliei- s|ay(.s^ Qjicyed his dictates, ajid have continued 
since to learn bom tlitl,- neighbours, till they have attained U, M.ch 
[irohciency in the arts of life, os (o be no loi.ger reL^^lded as a rude ol 
ignorant people, though all the othc: countries of Euiope had the start 
tt Ihfm till the veiy close ot the sevenleeiMli century. 

2\. Peler the gieat had, in a small <-"nipas^o( time, some ver> 
weak and some very wise successors. The former ha\.: not been 
suffered to stand long in the way of tb.; !alt< ", ;i:,(! thoiij:h tht.'ir re- 
moval has savoured little of the civilization and improvement of which 
we have been speaking, it cannot be denied that Russia has been pre- 



MUUEKJN' iil.^TUKY. 419 

vented by many singular occurrences from relapsing: into her former 
sfate of TMrleness ?.!>(! barbarity.^ The extremes of mag-tiificence and 
mdeness, indeed, are too ofte:i foun«l to meet ; and the (hiddle class 
lias !)y MO inearu yet acquired tlial juiportaiice in -ocietj' which is sc 
essential to every well-regulated governinerjt. The state of tningb 
still exiiibits too much of llie old narrow line of distinction, ol lord.-, 
and vassals ; nevertheless, Russia has obtained much, and advanced 
considerably. Where, little more than a centuiy aj?o, wolves i\n\ ani 
sought their prey, an immense and mao:nificent city and metropolis 
now st;';ids. thronged with inhabitants from ail parts of the g\ube ; but 
pejiiaps it would be well if she would consent to step back and give a 
solid and more iiatmal base to her acquirements. The system of 
adoption and imitation has brought her to a state rather of superficial 
than of real gieatness. She has had her universities belore her 
schools ; but it could not well be otherwise in so sudden an improve- 
ment : much remains to be done betbre the nation at large, in its sev- 
eral relations, social and political, can be said to be really and effectu- 
allj' civili/.(;il. 

22. Sweden, du>iri}f (lie eighteenth centuiy, produced many eminent 
men, and rontrilniled larg<;!y to the advancement ol" science. It may 
be suflicient to mention, in jnoof of this, the names of l^innieus, Wal- 
lerius, Cronsladl, Bergman, Scheele, 'J'hunl;eiii, and S[)arrmaii. 

23. The !^ Uies have not been idle, but have encouraged in many 
wixjH the promotion of literatinv and phiiosophy ; mathematics and 
a.>ti()nomy, zooiogy, botany, and otlisT sciericrs, I'lnvf been cultivated 
with good ^iicce^s ; and m;-ny splendid wdiks are extant, that letlcc! 
threat credit on the spirit and ardour of the government, as well as of 
individuals, and the learned societies institnied and eslabiislied t|jere. 

DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS. 

1. Maw new discoveries and inventions of lasting !a-n*?fif to man 
kind, as wi-ll ns many most essentia! imi)roveinents of old invention" 
aiul discoveries, have marked the eighteenlh and nineteenth centuries: 
some of the most remarkaljle of which it wiij be siifiicient mcic!y to 
name, as they are airendy become tt)o conmion and I'ntniliar to tned 
explanation ; such as iiionilalion, and iiuicli more recent'y, I'ttcamt- 
tioti ; stediii-cns^incs and sleo m -hoots ; printing of llpc7i\ud cotton 
cloths ; ;w;jer for rooms ; Ji,gured silks and carpets; spivning inn- 
rhines ; stereotype printing, and Uthographic emrrariug : musicnl 
types; ^'orcelain and pottery; particu'aily PVe/c/i and iron-stone china; 
lightning conductors ; tinic-piecrs ; purn/iu/dc, electrical^ and gohantc 
appaiTitd-; : lift'.-boats atid hfr-preserver." ; the speokiiig-triiiitpet, saje- 
ty-ldirt}), teleisriij)lis, gus-ltghts, panorauws, hntloons, rejlecting and 
achromatic telescojes, concave mirrors, with various other optical and 
astronomical instruments. 

2. Laws and governments have been advancing towards a grealei 
degree of perfection, though irr many countrie-^" veiy slowly, and 
maiiilently under dilliculties and imiJediments which time oiily can 
remove. The French revolution opened people's eyes to ancient 
abuses ; but by inducing all the evils an<l horrors of anarchy did by 
no means accomplish so much for real lilierty, as might have been 
uish«>d and (ixpected ; like other tumultuary revolutions, it termniated 
in a miiitary desj'otism, and its effects on the c<jntinent ot Eiirupe 
have beeu hitherto jjurtiai, and apparently of much less importance as 



420 MODERN HiSTORV. 

to the actual amelioration of thiiios tlian many persons expected. Still 
we may justly enumerate araong tlic clianges conducive to the fi !uie 
Lenctit. coiuiDrt, and happiness <>i mankind, the steps takina," in sev- 
trai states to restoie or estabh'sh the representative system of g-overn- 
rnent ; the dissolution of many monastic institutions, and feudal priv- 
ileges ; the check that lias been ^'iven to ari,)ilrary imprisonment, 
torture, lie horrors of the inquisition, and the African slave-trade ; 
the iniprovements that have tak(;n place, principally through tht; in- 
teipo«ition of our benevolent countryman, Mr. Howard, in the ina.n- 
a2;ement of prisons, and the extraordinary steps lately taken, especial- 
ly in the Britisii dojninions, lor the better education of the poor and 
their instruction in relij>ion. 

3. It would be vain indeed to attempt to enumerate the astonishing 
ailditions that have been made within these few years, to the public 
establishments ii;)r the promotion oi knowledge, the advancement ot 
protessional skill, and the relief of the necessities of mankind. Phil- 
osophical societies of all descriptions have been formed in various 
parts, under the most favourable circumstances of support and encour- 
agement. The propaga.tion of Christianity has been attended to, and 
piomoled with exlraordinaiy zeal, not only by individuals, but by 
missionary and Bible-societies, far too numtrous to mention. Eveiy 
description of medical, chirurgical, and other assistance, has been 
(urnished to the poor, by a most extraordinary increase of hospitals 
and iniirmaries, dispensaries, asylums, and charity-schools. The 
naval and military professions have had the benefit conferred on them 
o' new ancl distinct academies, including a charitable provision for the 
chilfiicn of those who have ])eri.shed in either service. The .'rproved 
4tate of chemistry and mechanical skill, has advanced many arts to a 
/try- high degree of perfection, anil much assisted both the manufac- 
turing and agricultural industry ; nor should we omit to mention, as 
among the improvements of latter yeais, by which our own countiy in 
particular has been benefited in the highest degree, the amendnient 
ol Oie public roads, the increased means and facilities of public con- 
veyance and communication, and the advancement of inland navigatioi), 



RELIGION. 

1. In regard to religion, from the close of the seventeenth century 
to the year 1,5520, we may remark that paganism continues to prevail 
over the greater part of Asia, Africa, and the new discovered Islands, 
ss well as aniong the Indians of America, North and South, (in the 
settlements of the Sprmiards and Portngue?^., the Roman Catholic re- 
ligion has been intiodiced of course.) Mahometanism prevails in 
Kome parts of India, in Persia, Arabia, Egypt, the States of Baibaiy, 
Syria, and 'J'urkcy. The Jews continue dispersed over every j)art ut 
the world, but in a state and condition lar better than w;is i'urmerly 
the case ; in Europe they are no longer exjwsed to cruel and wanloi; 
acts of oppression and persecution, and in some countries they have 
ol'tamed important privileges. In Abyssinia the majority of the 
peoj)le are said to be christians, and thrcnighout tlie whole oi the Eu- 
ropean settlemenis of North America, Christianity is the received re- 
ligion, rhough under a variety of deiicniinations, — Conirregationalists, 
Presbyterians, Dutch reformed church, Episcopalians, Baptists, C^ua- 
kers, Methodists, Roman Catholics, German Lutherans, German Cal- 



MODERN HISTORY. 42i 

inists, Moravians, Tunker.*, JMennotiisls, Universalists, Swcdenboi 
aiis, and Sli;ikrrs. 

2. Ill regard to leligion or Christianity, on the rontment of Europe 
ha.* been already shown what rude otliicks it had to sustain, dui'iig 

ne course and progress of tlie French revohitioii. Deism and even 
theism were openly avowed in their national assemblies ; llie im- 
mortality of the soul and resurrection of the bo<ly scouted at, and 
death pronounced to be an eternal sleep. Paganism was in some xle- 
gree revived, the tree of liberty substituted for the cross, and the 
goddess of reason elevated above the God of Christians. During rhe 
3irec!orial and consular governments, however, cathoiicl^ni was r<;- 
stored, but under very altered circumstances ; without i'ts accompani- 
ments of monasteries and nunneries, and veiy much detached from 
the swa}' and authority of the papal see. 

3. The protestant churches, ot all sects and denominations, have 
done much, as was belbre observed, by missions in every diiection. to 
sp'-ead the knowledge of Christianity, but seldom with that crH'diuiily 
and unanimity that might have been wished, and which could not 
have failed to have given greater eftect to tiieir exertions. Amo.ig 
those who have appeared most zealous, though not most discreet, we 
may reckon the Aloravians and Aletkodisl^; two sects or parties, 
whose most avowed object it has been to stem the torrent of vice and 
corruption, prevailing amongst professed christians. The methodists 
have generally called themselves of the church of England, though in 
many material respects they appear to have deviated from it, both in 
doctrine and discipline, and have for some time been divided amGng.->t 
themselves into two great parties, one espousing the Calvinistic, die 
other the Arminian, tenets. It is .common to refer the oricin of 
filelhodism to the year 1,729, when the two brothers, John and Charles 
VVesle3\ took the lead of those who adhered to the Arminian d(;ctrirrs, 
Mr. George Whilcfield., who joined them in 1,735, became, in 1,741, 
the head of the Calvinistic division. 

4. The modern Moravians take their date from the year 1,7-23, 
when they first settled at Hernhut, in Upper Lusatia, on the estates 
of Isicholas Lewis, count of Zinzendorf, who, in 1,735, became their 
bishop. They profess to receive the Augsbui^ confession ; are meek 
and quiet in their liabits and principles, but have at times adopted a 
strange phraseology, which uas thought to affect their moral character, 
and procured them many enemies. As missionaries they have been 
extremely active, particularly in the West Indies and America : they 
profess to be the remains of the Hussites. 

5. The emperor Joseph II. ndieved his protestant subjects of all 
denominations I'rom many galling restrictions, and greatly abridged 
the power of the pope. Many catholic princes, even the 'eccl(!siasti- 
cal states, followed his example in various particulars. In favouring, 
however, an unlimited fi-f^edom of opinion at such a moment, he open- 
ed the door to the introduction of deistical principles, and facilitated 
the formation of a sect -of illuminati, which, during the course and 
progress of the French revolution, taught and disseminated doctrines 
adverse in the highest degree to th'^ order of civil society, Mie rigiils 
of pioperty, and the christian faith. 

6. 'J't'.e papal authority, during the latter yeprs of the period under 
discus-sion, has been greatly abridged in all countries lieretotore sub- 
ject to it ; even in Spain, Portugaf, Italy, and Sicily ; nor is it likely 
to be recovered, notwithstanding the attempts lately made to restore 
»^artially the order of Jesuits and the inquisition. Of the indlgiii 

N n 



422 MOI-)EllN IliSTOUY. 

oflVred to the la.«^t and present pope by tlie French we have spoken 
e|i(\vh(!re. At or.e time tliey so entirely took the reins org:overiinient 
St Koine into their own hands, that liie pope and cardinals wne 
oblige(i to take llie^ht, in which situation Pius \' I. died. His suc- 
cessor, Pius V'll., since the final overthrow ot' Buonapaile. has lived 
in peacid and quietne;^, in his capita!, exercising, riotwilhstanding lus 
recall ol'the Jesuits, a veiy tole'ant and inoffensive «way. It is, liow- 
ever, to he lamented, that, in the instance oi" the pope, as well as of 
llie king of Naples, and others, their resentment ot the French ustn'- 
i.alion< on their return to their dominions has been carried so far as to 
abrogate every ordinance oi the Frencii Emperor, however wise or 
sa utar^', and even to undo what had been begun, manifestly tending 
to the improvement of their respective countries. 



HISTORY, POLITE LITERATURE, FINE ARTS, &;c. 

1. Wk fee! ourselves rather at a loss to give any satisfactoiy acccnint 
of the progress that has been made in the l)ranches of knowledge 
pointed out by the title of this section : it would far exceed our limits 
to atten-.pt to enumerate the many historical woiks tliat have been pub- 
lished during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, or to go into any 
regular discussion of the x)articular merits of the several poets, paitit- 
ers, nuisicians, philosophers, philologists, &lc. ^:c., who may be swid to 
have distinguished themselves in the period of which we have b«-en 
treating. To do this with any degree of justice, we should be :blig- 
>.'d, perliaps, to divide them into many classes, and assign to the sev- 
eral individuals of the long list that might be produced, their respec- 
tive ranks and stations, from the liighest degreti of perfection to medi- 
ocrity, or lower ; we should have to draw a comparison between (hem 
and their predecessors, and consider, in various points of view, every 
advance they had made in their different callings, studies, and pur- 
suits : but sucii a discussion would be quite unsuitable to a work like 
(he present. Many of those, indeed, who have contributed toenlaige 
(he boundaries of knowledge during the eighteenth and ninettenth 
centuries, have been already mentioned ; but tliere aie still son.e 
;iames which almost demand our notice, belbre we entirely close this 
volume. It should, however, be observed,, that many very emir.ent 
persons, who lived till long after the commencement ot the eightt'C-nth 
lentuiy, belong to a different period, having been the ornan.enls of 
tvbat is called the age of Louis XIV. It may be best, perhajis, to 
arrange tlic few we feel Ijound to select from tlie great mass of au- 
ihors, artists, ^:c., according to their countries. 

2. In Germany the following may he said to have acquired a h'gh 
reputation: Mascov, Moslioim, Pteffel. Herder, Muller, in ///s/or?/; 
Scliilk-r in History and Tragedy; Klopstock, Gesner, \\ ieland, 
k'olzebue, Goethe, in Poetry and Dramatic writing ; in Paivlivg, 
iMengs ; ingenhou'/ in Cliemistry, and Bode '\n Astronnmy ; Handel, 
Giuck, Haydn, and Mozart, in Jilusic ; Lavater in the fanciful science 
< f Pliysiognoiiiy. Even the names of Blesmer, Maiiiaduc, Gall, aiul 
Spurzheim, may require to be mentioned, as having for some time, in 
an extraordinaiy nianner, amazed the ignorant, and (U-celved the 
credulous, by their strange systems of Animal Magnetism am' 
i'raniolfgy. 

3. in Fiance, Camlet, Monttaucon, the Count de Caylus, Kullin- 
V'ertot, Rapin, Gcguet, Millot, Raynal, Mably, and the Abbe Bar- 



MODEKiN HISTORY. 423 

theleiny, part cularly distinguished themselves in the line of History 
and Jnlif]iultes ; to whom ue may now add, pediaps \vitii rear^oii and 
justice, Mad. de Stat-!, and M. J,a Cretelle M. Rail!y, one of the 
vi'.:tin:.s ol' tiie Kevohition, vendeitd hinisell' conspicuous b}- h:< very 
curious Hisloiy of Astronomy, and other works. Miiny (;f his con- 
temporaries, wlio applied themselves to other branches of scif-nce, 
have been already m.;ntioned. Sonie ot them also fell by the hands 
of the public executioner, during the dreadful period of the Revolu- 
tioii. Their most celebrated painter, however, David, escaped, 'uit 
widi more reputation as an artist than as a man ; for his own proceed- 
ings, a' a revolutionist, were base and sanguinaiy. 

4. In Great Britain, we have to boast, in the line of History, of (he 
names of Robertson, Watson, Hume, Gibbon, Lyltelton, Goldsmith, 
Roscoe, Russell, Gillies, Ferguson, Stuart, Mil ford ; in Lrta;, of Sir 
William Blaclistone, whose Commentaries, for elegance and perspi- 
cuity of diction, stand unrivalled. Bolingbroke and Swift are justly 
held to have improved the English language, in the two main articles 
of eneigy and beauty. The style of Dr. Johnson is less chaste, 
though, perhaps, equally forcible. The name of Adam Smith will 
probably descend to the latest posterity, for his masterly work on the 
wealth of nations, a subject in which he seems almost to have taken 
llie lead, as an original writer. In Painting, the nam.es of Hogarth, 
Keyn.ilds, and West, stand hisii for originality, taste, conception, and 
expression ; in Melaphi/sics, Hume, Har'ley, Berkeley, Reid, Baxter, 
and Priestley, nave distinguished themselves. To the Poets already 
mentioned we iraist add Gay, Young, Shenslone, Collins, Gray, Ma- 
son, Cowper, Crabbe, Scott, Pyron ; as JVo-velists, Richardson, Smol- 
lett, Fielding, Burney, Edgeworth, &c. Garr'ck and Siddons have 
conferred immortal honour on the English Stage. 

5. Italy, though lai)(»uring under great disadvantages, has been by 
no nutans deficient in learned and scientific persons, since the close of 
llie seventeenth century. In history and antiquities, in poetiy, dra- 
matic works, natural history, drawing, engraving, and sculjjturf!, the 
fo!towii.'^ nimes richly deserve to lie delivered down to posterity : 
Bironiu.-, Giannone. Muratori, MatTei, Metastasio, Goldoni, Aigarotti. 
(nizzi, Tiraiioschi,Beccaria, Spallanzani, Alfieri, 13aito!ozzi, Cipriani, 
CaiK'va. France and Italy seem to have a joint claim to a living 
HUlhor of considerable fame, M. Simondes de Sismondi. 



TREATY OF VIENNA, 1,815. 




Bally that of the duchy of Saxony. Prussia, besides, recovered 
'aittzic, Q,uediinbiirg, and many other places ; yielding, however, to 
the kiiig of Great Britain, now become king of Hanover also, many 



424 UMTED STATES. 

lordships and principalities, in othnr parts of Germany. A new Ger- 
n'.anic conieticratioii was established, the members of whiiJi were 
declared to be equal in their rights, and boun 1 to render to each other 
nrntuiil asfti.slance. Tlieic afFairs to be conlided, first to a J'edentlive 
diet, amounting to seventeen votes ; and, 2dly, to a general assembly, 
forming sixty-nine votes ; uIk> are to decide upon all regulations 
touching the fundamental l;uvs of the confedention. The diet to 
assi'inble at Fratikldrt on the Maine, and Austria to preside. The 
three important lortresses of Landau, Mentz, and Luxemboui^, beijig 
assigned over to the confederation. 

2, The united provinces of the Netherlands, late the Belgic states, 
were Ibrined into a kingdom, jointly with those of Holland, in favour 
of the house of Orange Nassau, late sladlholders ; and to the same 
so\ereign was granted the duchy of Luxembourg, with the title of 
grand duke. 

3. The integrity of the nineteen cantons of Switzerland was ac- 
knowledged, and guarantied ; and Geneva, for the fii-st time, consti- 
tuled a .canton ot the Helvetic conti'deracy. The states ol Genoa 
were annexed to ihe kingdom of Sardinia, in the place of many re- 
nunciations on the part of the latter power, principally in favour of 
(leneva. The grand duchy of Tuscany was settled on the archduke 
Ferdinand of Austria ; and king Ferdinand the IVth was restored to 
the sovereignty of the Two Sicilies. 



PART FOURTH. 
UNITED STATES. 



- SECTION I. 

DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 



1. It was somewhat natural that the distmguisheJ author of the 
Elements of Histoiy should almost exclusively confine himself to the 
great events of the old world. It will be observed that the discovery 
ot America by Colundjws embraces only a shori space, (see Section 
XLI.) and tuat North America, the first settlement of the United 
States, the revolution and severance of those states from the crown of 
Great Britain, and the more recent dispute of the States with Great 
Britain, aie dismissed by both nuthors it. a few words. (See S(;ctiott 
XL!!., and Sections VIll. and XX. of the Continuation.) This con- 
sideration will suggest the j^ropriety of a more particular narration of 
tiie events which relate to the United States, for whose particular use 
the present edition of this work is intended. 



UNITED STATES. 425 

2. The hoiK)ur of accomplishing an exploit, so sublime as ihat of the 
disroveiy of lliis western lieinisphere, was gained liy Cli!i.sto[)hei 
Coliimhns. This srrent ninn, a native of Gt-rioa, de>ccii(lf;(l fioni a 
respectable family, was well cpiaiitied ny nature and c-diKati<!U to l.e- 
couie distingiii^lied on tlie ocean. Aidenlly inclintd t(iwai>!s that 
ele'.nent, he went to sea at the age of fourteen. At'ler a variely (»'. 
adventures serving to enlarge iiis knowledge more than lo inci«'a>e his 
fortune, he went to Lisbon. Here, having marrie-d the daughter ot 
Feresireilo, a Porlnguc:se navigator (jf much celebrity, hi-^ l,i\(uni!e 
passion of making discoveries was rendered more inl•^i^lil,l](- I y ic.d- 
ing tlie journals of his father-in-law, which had lalleii ir.to hi.- hand.-. 

3. The attention of the Portuguese was at that time diiictiMl lo I'lt 
finiling a passage by water to the East hidies ; and lluy intmdcil to 
accoiuplish this purjjose by passing lo the south until they reached die 
soulhern e:vti'emity of Africa, and then taking an easteily C(>in>e. 
The spherical tigure ol the earth was then known, and its magniluiU 
had b'jeii ascjrlained with some good degree of accuracy ; and tin 
active mind of Columbus, after having attentively compared tlu 
observations of modern navigators with the conjectures of the ancients, 
at last came to t[)e conclusion, that, by sailing directly to tlie we,-i, 
new countries, wliich it was likely formed a part of the great continent 
of Asia, mu>t be discovered. His opinion was strengtiiened by the 
aiscovuiy, alter a long course of westerly wind, of piict's of cai\e I 
wood, lree^, and canes, and dead bodies, "the natives ol' another clime, 
ilriveii on the shores of the Madeira isles and the Azores. 

4. Full)' satisiied with the truUi of his system, Columlnis was im- 
pa.tieiit tu bring it to the test of experiment. He fust made a])i)licj 
tiiiU lo the senate of Genoa foi patronage, desirous that his nalivt 
cuuiiti} should ''"ap the fruits of his labour and ingenuity ; bi.I hi.-ru 
his proposals wevv. rejected as the dream of a diimerical projectf>r. 
N«)t discouraged by this repulse, he laid his plans before John king 
of'Fortugal, who basely attempted a fraud on him, by despatching i. 
vessel in pursuit of the discovery, alter drawing from Columbus all 
the information wliich treachery could devise. The pilot selectttd foi 
this purpose, being no less deficient in courage than were his em- 
ployers in dignity and justice, returned to Lisbon without making nnx 
discovery. 

5. Disgusted with the treacher}% Columbus instantly went to Spair., 
and laid his plan beiiDre Ferdinand and Isabella, at the samn tit-.ie tliftj 
he sent his brother Bartholomew lo England, for the purpose of neg(/- 
tiating for the pationage of Henry VHl., reportetl to be one ol ii.e 
most sagacious and opulent princes of lue age. Accident deprived 
England of the renown of this discovery; the brother of Ci.himbus 
Oil his way being captured by pirates, and detained ip eap'nity many 
years: although arriving in Englaiul in great indigcfict, Ib'iiiy i<"- 
ceived the ovtM-luies of Columbus more' favourably than any odiei 
'"onarch, and invited him lo that country. But it was too !al<-. 'J'lie 
gre.i discoverer, after combating many and soi'e disappointuK-nts, 
5ucreed.^d at length in securing the Spanish court, aided by two lich. 
generovis, and vigilant patrons,' Q,uintanella an^ Santangel. Ferdiiraiui 
was still restrained by his characlerisiic caution and reserve ; but 
Isabella, aiV-e l» the gloiy which must accrue from the accomiihsh- 
nient ot so graud an enterprise, declared her nisolution to employ 
Columbus ; and, in ihe low state of her finances, consequent on a long 
and serious contest with lUe Moors, who had then but just been ex- 
pelled Irom Spain, ofiered to pledge her jewels in order lo complete 



426 UNITED STATES. 

the preparations of the voyage : Santaiigel however leheved the diffi- 
culty, by advancnij? trom liis private purse the necessary sum. 

6. April 17, 1,492, more than seven 3 ears aitei the ciate of his first 
ap{)lication, an ag;re;ement with Columbiis was conchided. ^J'he ex- 
pedition was filled out at Palos, a small town of the province of 
Andalusia ; but i*. was badly suited to the service for which it ^as 
intended. 1* consisted of three vessels, the Santa Maria, the Pinia, 
and the Nigna — the first of inconsiderable burthen commanded by 
Columbus as admiral ; and the two last, not supeiior in size to h\i>e 
boats, by two brotiiers, Maitin and \'incent Pinzon : the whole p-o- 
vided with nineU' nien, and victualled for twelve months. 

7. Aug-ust 3, Columbus set sail. He touched at ihe Canaiy islands, 
where ^. refitted his crazy vessels, and departed from Gomera, 
Sc-pt 6 Here he took his course due west, leaving the track of .ail 
former navigators, and stretched boldly into seas "unknown. Veiy 
soon his sailors, alainied at the distance 'they had proceeded without 
finding the expected land, began to mutiny, and placed Columb>is in a 
situation in which any other man would have yielded to their enlieaties 
to return. Feitile in expedients, possessing a thorough knowledge ot 
mankind, an insinuating address, and a liappy talent at governir.g, lie 
succeeded day al'ter day in beguiling the discontented seamen far 
beyond their own determinations, until ever}' succeeding hour present- 
ed stronger and stronger indications that land could be at 1.0 g:eat 
distance. For some days the sounding line had reached the bottom ; 
(he flocks of birds increased, and some of them of a kind supposed to 
fly not far from shore ; the clouds around the sun assumed a new 
appearance ; the air was more mild, and, during the night, the w ind 
became unequal and variable. On the evening of Oct. 11, he ordered 
the ships to lie to, in the fear of running ashore. That night Colum- 
bus observed a light, which seemed to be carried about fiom place to 
place ; and a little after midnight, ivas heard from the Pinta the joyl'u) 
cry of Land ! 

fi. When the morning dawned, an island was seen about two leagues 
to the north : its verdant fields were well stored with wood, presenting 
the aspect of a delightful country. All the boats were immediately 
manned and armed. The Spaniards rowed towards the shore witn 
their colours displayed. As they approached th.e beach, they saw it 
covered with a multitude of people, whose attitudes and gestures dis- 
covered wonder and amazement. Columbus was the first who set loot 
on this new world which he had discovered. His men followed; and 
all kneeling, kissed Uie ground that they had lon-g desired, but nevei 
expected to behold : here he erected a crucifix, returned thanks to 
God, and with the usual formalities took possession of the countiy. 
To this island, calle(| by the natives Guanahana. Columbus gave (he 
name of St. Salvador : it is one of the large cluster called the Baha- 
mas, irore than three tliousand miles west, but only lour degicts south 
of Gomeia, the port of the Canaries which he last left. 

9. After discovering several other islands, amongst which v^''^^, 
Cuba and Hayti ; and using eveiy precaution to secure the b"'*^''^ "' 
a first discovery, by erecting a fort and leavine: a Darty of 'litn <^"' '. *^ 
island of Hayti ; on the 4th of January, 1, 49^:3, Columbus «;t sail lor 
Europe. The shattered condition of his vessels would I'-^ve rendeied 
the voyage at any time unsafe ; but a succession of sfoims had well 
nigh committed to the bosom of the deep, and ''I'th it ih? secret 01 
Ills discovery, his little flotilla. The whole, however, arrived. _ 

10. At first it was generally supposed, from a sinnil?nty in the 



UNITED STATES. 4«1 

productions, that, the discovered country was a part of those vast re- 
gions of Asia, comprehended under tlie general name of India. The 
name of India was given to it bj^ Ferdinand and Isabella ; and, atler 
the error which gave rise to the opinion was detected, the name ot 
West Indies has remained, and the aborigines are C3lJed Indians. 

11. in 1,498, Columbus, on his third voyage, readied the continent, 
and landed in several places in the provinces oi Paria and Cumana. 
But he was dcpri\ed of the honour of associating his name with this 
vast portion of the earth, being supplanted by Amerigo Vespucci, a 
native of Florence, who, in 1.499, wriit on a voyage to America, and 
who published an account ol hi.s adventures so ingeniously framed as 
tc make it appear that be had the glor}' of fii;st discovering the conti- 
nent of the new world. 

12. On the 20tli ot November, 1,497, Vasco deGama, employed bv 
the king of Portugal, first doubled the Cape of Good Hope, which 
ojeiiecf a passage to the Ea.>t Indies; and twenty-three years after 
thu first ui.scov^eiy of America by Columbus, Magellan, a native of 
Port'igal, in the service of Spain, penetrated mto the Pacific ocean, 
by the strait whick bears his name, situated at the southern extremity 
of the American continent. 



SECTION II. 

DISCOVERIES BY THE ENGLISH. SE^rLExMENT OF VIRGINIA. 

1. Thk English were the seco-^^^ people that discovered the new 
world, and the first that discove-^'d the rontinent of America. On the 
24tli of June, 1,497, G iovann-' ^<ihoto, (or Cabot,) and his son Sebas- 
tian, who were commissiop-'d by jienry V III. to sail m quest of new 
countries, discovered a -'arge is^'and, to wh^ch they gave the name of 
Prima Vesta or first seen : <iow called Newfoundland. From this, 
they steered 'to th' north, "i search of a passage to India ; but finding 
no appearance of a ,r'«issage, they tacked about, and ran as far as 
Fktrid.-i the isiami -jf Cuba, as he relates, being on his left. 

2. On -*'''e acc^"^sion of Elizabeth to the crown of England, a period 
comm^iced. highly auspicious tc mercantile extension. The coast of 
Lal>''<idor 'vas explored by Martin Frobisher, under her auspices, in 
.Vie ye^rs l,576-'7-'8 ; and sir Francis Drake, about this time, accom- 
pjiv.'ied his celebrated voya^ around the globe. 

3. In 1.584, sir Walter Raleigh, a favourite at that time of the 
queen, despatched two small vessels, under the command of Philip 
.\niidas and Arthur Barlow, which reached the coast of North Carolina 
o)i th(! 4th of .luly, making their passage in sixty-seven days by way 
uf the Canary islands and the West Indies. On their return Amidas 
and IJarlow gave a splendid description of the country ; of its beauty, 
t'crtility, mildness of climate, and serenity of atmosphere ; and Eliz- 
abeth gave to the country the name of Virginia, as a memorial that 
this haiipy land was discovered under a maiden queen. 

4. In 1,585, sir Walter Raleigh fitted out a .squadron of seven small 
vessels, with one hundred and eighty adventurers, which sailed from 
Plymouth, un.ler the command of sir Richard Greenville. Tbif 
colony was left on the island of Roanoke, under the care of captain 
Lane ; but through bad management, turning all their attention to th* 



428 UNITED STATES. 

search for ^old and silver, they were soon assailed by a two-fold 
calamity, the hostility of the ;,ia'tivt., -tiid the itrospect of famine. Sir 
Francis Dralce, on his return from tl e We-t liulie.v at the iinanimnus 
request of tiie co'onists, earned them i)ack to Ei:Rl;ind. .-.imI tl;u,s «*n<!ed 
tlie ill-conducted (•xpcriment, altera tri.ii of riii;e norths. 

5. Early in the foilouinfi: year, thre«; more ve>.-el.s a rived at the 
same .-ipot, with one hundred and fifty sett'eis. !ii a! ( ut oi'.e nuintti 
after, the daughter of capt^njd AVhite, who commanded the exysedijion, 
and the wile of Ananiu:-- Daio, one of his as'^islants, trave hirth tu llic 
lust English female child, which was named. Viiojiiia. Rlisfdriui^t 
pursued tliis infant settlenient. The \hreatened S])anish armad;. 
eigrossing the attention of Ihr- paretit country. t!ie c^ 'oiiy rccei\()d k 
supplies, and the inliahitants pcri.-luid mist-iah!) I.y famine, or hs li.« 
hands of their surromidiuis: enemies. 

6. Sir \Valter Ivaleijjli beiiiii engnsfcd in oilier .-.i-.i! itious imi('«i- 
takings, .so vast and various as vvt^re'ley. tid !ii> i()\v<'r to accoii iiii.-'i. 
and becoming cold t- die unprolilalile scheme of effecllrg .-ctlieu'enls 
in America, assigned his interesi in ihat cruntry to sir Thomas Sti!i.!li 
and a ompany of merchants in Loi'.d')n. in Ijiw. These were satis- 
fied tor the viesent to pursue a petty traflic wiui the natixe-s, ai.d Uiade 
no jitlempt to if.ke possession of the soil. 

7. But m the succeeding leign of .lames, who ha\ ing concluded ;'n 
amicable treaty wiJi r.pain, anil terminated a tedious war. lla- |>erK.d 
was more auspicious lor .s.-ulements in America. The attenticn v( '! e 
monarch was called to this subject by the efforts of distirgu-.d.ed 
geographers and men of science. James di\ ided into districts of 
nearly equal extent, that pi^tion of ^!or^h America uhicli stretcnes 
frt.m the ■o4th to the 43tii dcjiree of north latitude, exceptirs: llie 
territory of any other christian i>.;„(..(; or people already occup'ed : 
one called the Fust, or South Colony, the otlier the Second, or Noitli 
Colony of Vn^mia. In 1,606, he anthorV/ed certain gentlemen, most- 
ly residents ot Lo'idon, to settle ir. a liniii.-..,] district of the former ; 
an equal extent of the latter he alloued to teveral gentlemen (;f' 
Bristol, Plymouth, and other jiarts of tho west tf England. Tliese 
grants laid the first foundation of states whTdi in a toy centuries were 
destined to become rivals to the mother country in weaVJ,^ in science, 
and ir) power. The supreme government oi' the c')lonie.s\vas vested 
in a council resident in England, to be nominated Irj the k-.,>v ■{\)q 
subordinate jurisdiction in a council which was to reside in Am.'fica 
and also to be named by 'he crown, and act contormablj U) its ■'.J 
structions. Whatever was requi'-^jd for their sustenance, or Kir the 
support of commerce, he permitted to be shipped from England I'v.-e 
of duty, during the space of seven years ; and as an incitement to in- 
dustry, granted them the liberty of trading with other nations, apfuo' 
priating the duties to be laid on foieigii tratlic for twenty-one years, as 
a fund for their exclusive lumetlt. 

8. A vessel of one hundred tons, and two barks, under the command 
of captain Newport, sailed with one hundred and five mei., destined 
to romain in the countiy : among these was a Mr. Percy, brother of die 
earl of Noilhumberland, and several officeis wh(» had served will) rep- 
utation in the pieceding reiffn. The first land that was discovered v.'as 
a promontory, the southern bound.iiy of the Chesapeake, A})ri!, 1,607 : 
this was named cape Hemy, m honour of the prince of Wales. The 
soacious iniel was entered, and the expedition coasted the southern 
shore, and up a river sixty miles, called by tb.e native:? Powhatan, to 
whicli the English gave the name of J^mes r'^er, in honour of their 



UNITED STATES. 429 

sovereign. Here a site was fixed for tlie infant settlement, which was 
named James Town. 

y. Imprudent in their conduct towards; the natives, this feebie socie- 
ty was early involved in v/ar. Scarcity of provisions introduced dis- 
eases ; and in a few months half their original number was swept away, 
and the remainder left sickly and dejected. 

10. The government soon devolved on captain John Smith, who 
was originally one of the council appointed by the king, but who had 
unjustly been deprived of his authority by the colonists. This gentle- 
maji, who was emphatically the father of Virginia, was a native of 
Linc«,>lnshire : he had distinguished himself in feats of courage and 
cliivalry, particularly while engaged in the Hungarian army against 
the Turks. His ursdaunted temper, deeply tinctured with the ro- 
mantic spirit of the times, was happily adapted to the present trying 
situation of the colony. Soon after he had been called as their leader, 
while hunting in the woods, he was attacked by two hundred Indians, 
who poured in upon him a continued tlight of arrows. After perform- 
ing \vt)nderful feats, he sunk in the unequal contest, and was made a 
prisoner. Charmed by his arts and his valour, they released him 
from captivity. Alterwards he was beset by three hundred more of 
these ferocious people, pui-sued into a marsh, and, after he had thrown 
away his arms, which he could no longer use by reason of the cold, he 
was taken and carried in triumph to Powhatan, the principal chieftain 
of Vii^inia. Here the doom of death was pronounced upon him, and 
he was about to receive the fatal blow, when the favourite daughter of 
Powhatan, interposed in his behalf. This amiable child (not then 
thirteen years of age) not only prevented the execution of Smith by 
her entreaties and tears, but caused him to be set at liberty, and sent 
him, from time to time, seasonable presents of provisions. 

11. The colony was now reduced to thirty-eight persons. Soon 
after, however, succours arrived irom England, and an addition of one 
hundred new planters was added to their number. But the culture of 
the land, and other useful employments, were neglected, in the futile 
idea that gold had been discovered issuing from a small stream which 
emptied into James river. Tlie etTects of the delusion were soon 
severely felt in the prospect of approaching famine. In the hope of 
o!)taining relief. Smith, in a small open boat, and with a feeble crew, 
went in search of aid from the Indians. In two different excursions, 
that occupied upwards of four months, he visited all the countries on 
the eastern and western shores of the Chesapeake bay, entering the 
principal creeks, and tracing the rivers as far as their falls, and ob- 
tained a supply of food for the suffering colony. In these tours, he 
sailed upwards of three thousand miles, amidst almost incredible 
hardships, and brought back with him an account of that large tract of 
ctmntry, now comprehended in the two states of Virginia and Marj'- 
land, so full and correct, that his map is the original from which all 
subsequent delineations have been formed until lately. 

1-2. About this period, the old charter being found inconvenient and 
oppressive, a new charter was gianted by James, by which the boun- 
daries of the colo!iy Avere enlai^ed ; the council in Virginia was abolish- 
ed, and the government vested entirely in one residing in London, the 
members of which were to be chosen by the proprietors, and these to 
nominate a governor, who was to reside in Virginia and cany their 
orders into execution. Lord Delaware was at first appointed to this 
olTice ; but as this nobleman could not immediately leSve England, 
the power was vested in sir Thomas Gates and sir George Soiners, 



430 UKITLD STATES. 

who were despatched from England with five liundred planters. A 
violent liunicane sepamted the (Icet on llieir ^\ay ; and the .ships with- 
out the otticers only arrived at Jimies 'J'oun. rrtsentiy eveiy liiine 
was reduced to a statu ol anarcny ; captain Sniitli, at once the sliield 
and die sword of the colony, being disal^led ly an accidiMital exj)iosion 
of gun-powder, the wretchedness wiiicli followed is hcyoud descri|)- 
tion ; and the arrival of Gales and Sonier?, who had Le<'n cast avNay 
on one of the Bermuda islands, although it savtd the wietched sur- 
vivors at James Town ik)m inunediale lieath, was uiiahle Ic^ jirestne 
lliem until the autumn. Nothing- remained but to seek inur.ediale 
assistance ; and with only sixteen days' provision, the colony set sail> 
in hop<;S of leaching the banks of Aewtoi;;idiand, and gettii.g lelieU 
Hut i)eiijre they had arrived at the iiioulh of the river, they njt;l loid 
Delaware, who brought a laige supply of suslenanre, new settlers, 
and eveiy thing requisite either for cultivation or deleiice. L nder 
die skilful adiinnislration of this nobleman, the colony' began, (^r.ce 
more, to assume a promising ai^jieaiaiice. He was succeeded by sii 
Thomas Dale, who concluded a Ire; ty of friendship with the Pu\\lia- 
tans, one of ibe nio.-t powerful and warlike tribes of V'iiginia. 

13. Pocahontas, die amiable female who had preserved the life of 
captain Smilh. frequently visited the ICnglish settlements; and durii.g 
diis int<;rcourse, she was betrayed on board a ves>el, and iheie im- 
prisoned, lier fallur, who loved l:ei with the m(»1 anient aflection, 
u;is obliged to discontinue luistililies on such condition- a.« weie d':t- 
lated by his trea.cheious eiiem.y. She was afterwaid.-, solieiu-d I y 
•Mr. Pvolfe, a iesi)ectable planter, in marriage. Powliatan con.-enieti. 
niid the marriagt: was celebrated with extraordinary j onp. J him 
Ibis thru;, the most fiii-ndJy inteiTomse subsisted between the c»)Ion.sl> 
n-.d the Indians. Rolle ;'<nd his wile went to Ei;gland, wlieie. ly li •. 
niticxhiclion of captain Sniilli, Pocahontas was leceired ly 'he nui; 
■•vidi die respect due to her biitli; sbe was ii.stiucled in ibe ■ liristi; i 
:■' ::'.!. . and publicly baptizetl. .\Lunt letUiiHi.y Ui An. erica, P( c. 
d ed at Giavesend ; leavirg one son, from \\h(;m ;ue si ua ! 
i i]:<- most respectable families of V iiginia. 
■ i iilhcilo no individual right of pioin-iiy in lands was eslal ii! 
,: wa- boldeii and dealt (iUt in con n.on. Put the govesK i. 
. vireii a considerable extent of land into .-mall !o!s.l ;.i.d j.;; 

i' lii.-e forever to each individu.d ; fioin which jieiiiid a 

. ■ ...v^ ■■i'idiy ('Mended. The culture of lob.';cco, sinct; becon.e t!.i 
..!.:. r>t..ple of V'iiginia, was introduced; but the eagei flemnia; ioi 
i!;e aiticle in Eiigland cau.sed lor some time a scarcity ol" lood in the 
c<>!()iiy. 

l.'S. AImuiI this time, a Dutch ship. from tiie const of (luim-a, hp\ it g 
:« i'ed up James river, .*old to the planters a -part o!' her i:( -(<■-; 
i\!ii(li r,-t'c<- has he(;n augmented in V'iiginia by successive mit nita(;e, ■ 
ii,d i.'V natural increase, till it forms more than one diiid i.ai li i: 

pojHli.i'.'.ull. 

16. Ill l,<^iy, sir George Yeardley, the governor, b.iyeiled by d; 
fiopular spirit of freedom which hss ever been tlu^ characteristic i.l 
.Americans, c.dleil the first general as.^eii.bly which was held ii; V ii- 
y'uhi. At this lime eleven corporations sent representatives to the c(.h- 
*ention, which was permitli;d to a.-.-ume iegisiative j.-ower, the natUKil 
privilege (;f man. ThV su[)reme aulhoiuv was lodged partly in ttie 
^ovtMiior, [larlly in a council of state appointed by the company, at:d 
in a general assembly, coiaposed of }c-pje.:-eiitativcs cf the people, A 
natural effect of \e happy change i/a"^ ?n increase of agricullune, 



UNITED STATES. 431 

The company extended t}ie trade of the colony to Holland and othrr 
coti.iiries. Tliis mensiire produced tlie first difTerence ot >-entiiiifnt 
oelkvccn d'f; colony and tlic {)nier)l stale. .Jealous . 1 s<«'ii;>;- a r<in- 
niodity. ^tobacco.) tor wliicl) llie demand was daily inceasinsr, con- 
ducli'd to litreinn jjorl.-, beyoml its coiiliol, duicliy cau>iii<i a diinitai- 
lioiiot' ri'Vff.ue.lIu; latter tiideavoiirc!!! to < lieck this colonial enUMpiisi-. 
widiciit considering- that the restraint was a hiea.cli of the sacrt-d pim- 
ciples of justice. 

17. 'JMie suspicion of the nioiinrch James was soon roused, and the 
eharter.'hy decisicjii ot" die king's heiich, was declared loil'eit, and the 
company dissolved. Charles 1. adoi'led all his lather's inavinis in. 
ies|)<'ct to X'iiginia, which during a a;reat part of his reign knew no 
olher law tnaii the royal will. lUit the colonists resistinjf. ('l:;,rl«'S 
yielded to the pof>ular voice : he recalled Harvey, tiie obnoxious 
a^overnor, and appointed sir Wilpam Berkeley, a man of great abili- 
lies, prudent, virtuous, and popniar ; wlujse iiiHurnce was directed in 
linally resloriiig; to die i>eople mu( h the same share in the goxeiiiiient 
as lliey had enjoyed piv\ ious'y lo the lexocatioii ot the chaiter. 

I«. "After tlie'e\eciilion oftlie king, and iht estabhshteent of the 
comnKiiiweakh u-nder Cron.wcll, through the iulluence of the goveii or. 
the colonists continued to adhere to their loyalty to the king:. I" l,'i.'Jl, 
the Eng-lish coiiimoinvealth took vigorous n'.easures to rtsduce the \ ir- 
ginians to obedience. A numerous squadron, with land iorces, wai 
ciespatched for this purpose. Berkeley lesisted, but was unable to 
maintain an unequal contest, and was soon defeated. The peojiie 
were, however, allowed to retain the privileges of citizens: l.u! 
Berkeley rctiied as a private citizt-ti. Cronnvell's parhainent framed 
acts prohibiting all intei'course between the colonies and foreign stites, 
and allowing ti(j trade but in Engii.-h ships. On the death of i\Fatln'\vs, 
t. e 'ast govei'uor appointed by Ciomwell, tlie Viiginiaiis l.iujsl ( ut in 
new violence. 1 hey ca.llt'd sir W iliiam Berkeley from his i\.-tiren I'nt. 
boldly erected ibe royal standard. ;uid proclain;ed Charles II., son of 
their late monarch, to be their lawliil soveieign. Chailes was, how- 
ever, soon placed on the thione. and ihi; V'iiginians weie thus saved 
Ironi the chastisement to which they were exposed b}' their previous 
declaration in his favour. . But the r-ew king and parliament rew.irditd 
their (Idelity by increasing tin; restraints uiH)u colonial commerce ! 

I.'.. '1 he numijer of ii.habiUuUs in Virginia in l,G«8, exceeded sixty 
thousand, atvl its [)opulatioi) in the previous twenty-eight years was 
doubled. In 1,091, th^- college of William and Mary was lounded. 
To aid in its erection and .'■up[)or(, the sovereigns whose name it 
bears, gave nearly two thousand pounds out of their private purse, and 
granted twenty thousand acres of land, and a duly on tobacco, for I'.s 
turther encuurasceniciit. 



SECTION III. 

sr.TTf.F.MENT OF MAS-SACHUSFTTS, RHODE ISEAND, CON- 
NKCTICUT, Ni:\V flA.MPSJtlRK, .MAINE, AiARVLANt), NOKTI) 
AND SOUTH CAIIOIJNA, M'AV VOIIK, NEW JEUtEV, i'EN.X- 
SYLVAMA, DELAWARE, AND GEORGIA. 

1. The i-arlition of the great tcrritoiy of Virginia into North and 
South colonies has already been mentioned. Still more feeble were 



432 UNITED STATES. 

the operations o( the Plymouth company, to whom was assigned the 
comhict of tlie noitlicni division, allliougli aniniDled by the z(;al of sir 
John Popham, chiet' justice of England, sir Ferdinaudo Goraee, and 
other public spirited gentlemen of the west. 

5J. In the year 1,607, the same in which James Town was founded* 
a small settlement was commenced on the viver Sag;adahoc, now called 
the Kennebec ; but this was soon abandoned. Some fishing; vessels 
visited Cape Cod several limes ; among- them, one cummaniied by 
captain Smith, who returned with a high-wrought description of tlie 
'coast and country : exhibiting^ a map of the bays, harbours, &c., on 
which he inscribed " New England ;" the prince of Wales, delighted 
with the representations of Smith, iarimediately confirmed the name. 

•3. To the operations of religion, rather titan to the desii;e of pecu- 
niaiy emolument, are the various settlements of New England indebt- 
ed for their origin. The sacred rights of conscience and of privat* 
judgment were not then properly understood ; nor was the charitj 
and mutual forbearance taught christians by their divine master piac- 
tised in any countiy. Eveiy church employed the hand of power in 
supporting its own doctrines, and opposing "the tenets of another. Ir« 
reforming the rituals and exterior symbols of the church of England 
Elizabeth, lest by too wide a departure from the IJoniish church sh^ 
might alarm the populace, had allowed many of the ancient ceremonies 
to remain unaltered. With several of these a large number of lier 
subjects being dissatisfied, they wished to addre'5 :*ieir Creator ac- 
cording to their own opinions, but were subjected to veiy rigorous 
penalties. Those who dissented from the established church obtained 
the general name of Pvritmis. a term applied to them because xluy 
wished for a purer form of discipline ami worship. Among the most 
po})ular and strenuous declaimers against the established church were 
the Brownists, a sect formed about 1,581, by Robert Brown, who after- 
wards renounced his pri-nciples of separation, and took ordeis in the 
church against which he had so loudly declaimed. The Kev. Joiui 
Kobinson, the father of the first settlc'inent of New England, is said to 
have been a folIoAver of Brown, but afterwards renounced the principles 
of the Brownists, and became the founder of a new sect, denominated 
Independents.* Mr. Robinson adirmed that all christian congregations 
were so many independent religious societies, that had a right to be 
governed by their own laws, independent of any foreign jurisdiction. 
Being persecuted in England, he, with many others embracing his 
opinions, removed to Holland, where they formed churches upon their 
own principles. Remaining there some years, the society were de- 
sirous to remove to some other place : they turned their thoughts to 
America, and applied to James, who though he refused to give them 
any positive assurance of toleration, seems to have intimated some 
promise of passive indulgence. 

* By several respectable historians of this country, the Indcpc^ndenta 
have been connected ^vith the Brownists, betv.ecn the opinions and prac- 
tices of whom was a wide diflertnce. The Independents excelled the 
Brownists in the niodiTation of their sentiments, and in tlie order of their 
discipline. They possessed candour and charity, believing- that true re- 
liofion and solid piety mi^ht flourish in those communities under the jnris- 
diction cf bishops, or Uie goNeniincnts of synods or presbyteries. '1 luy 
approved of a regular ministry. While the Brownists allowed promiscu- 
ously all ranks and orders of men to teach in public, the Independents le- 
quired a proper examination of the capacity and talents of their teachers. 



UNITED STATES. 433 

4. They readily procured a tract of land from the Plymouth com- 
pany. One hutid'red and twenty persons sailed from Plymonlli in 
1 n'iO, llieir destination being Mud-son's river : by sonie treachery ot 
the Dutch, who then contemplated and afterwards effected a setth nient 
at lh« place, they were carried to the nortii, and landed on cape Cod, 
the eleventh of November of that year. They chose f(*r iheir resi- 
dence a place called by the Indians Patuxet. to which they gave the 
name of New Plymouth. Betbre spring, half their number were cut 
off by famine or disease. In a few days after they landed, captain 
Stand isli was engaged in skirmishing with the Indians ; and the many 
disasters which folloAvcd, together with the implacable hostility of the 
Indians, which always has subsisted, are perhaps more owing to the 
imprudence of the first settlers, than to the bad disposition of tiie 
natives. 

5. This colony, like that of Virginia, at .first held then- goods and 
property in com.mon ; and their progress was retarded as well by this 
circumstance, as by the impulse of imaginary inspiration, which reg- 
ulated all their actions. At the end of tei> years, these well meaning 
people, when they became incorporated witii their more poweiful 
neighbours of Massachusetts bay, did not exceed three hundred. 

6". In the year 1,629, Mr. White, a non-conformist minister at 
Dorchester, having formed an association, j)urcliased from t!ie Ply- 
mouth cfMnpany a tract extending in length from three miles north of 
Merrimack river to three miles south of Charles river, and in breadth 
from the Atlantic to the Southern ocean ; and obtained a charter from 
(Charles, si-milar to that given to the two Viiginian companies by James. 
Five siiips were fitted out, on board of Avhich wci-e embarked upwards 
of three hufidred souls, amongst whom were several eininent non- 
conforming ministers. On their arrival, they found (he remnant of a 
small )'arty that had left England the precediiig year, under the con- 
duct of Mr. Endicott, who had been api)ointed by liis comjianions 
deputy governor. They were settled at a p'ace caHed by the Indians 
Naumk jag, to which he had given the scripture name of Silem. 'J'lie 
new colonists immediately formed a church, elected a pastor, teacher, 
and elder, disregarding tlie intentions of the king. They disencum- 
bered their public worshij) of cveiy superfluous ceremony, and re- 
duced it to the lowest standard of calvini'^tic simplicity. 

But much as we respect that noble spirit which enaijicd them to pari 
with dieir native soil, we nnist condenm Ihc persecuting spirit nt" the 
colonists themselves. Some of the colonists, retaining a iiigh venera- 
tion for the ritual of the church of England, refiised to join tlje colonial 
state establishment, and asscinbied scy)aiately to worship : Endicolt 
called before him two of the principal offenders, expelled them fron) 
the colony, and sent them liome in tlio first ships reiurning to Engiand. 

7. The government of the colony was soon transferred to Ainerica, 
aiid vested in those members of the company who should reside tliert. 
h)lin Winthrop was appointed governor, ancl 'J'homas Dudley (iepiily 
governor, with eighteen assistants. In the course of the next 3'ear, 
i,(V30, fifteen hundred persons arrived in Massacliuselts from England, 
amongst whom were several distinguished families, sonie i.f them in 
easy, and others in adluenl circumstances ; and Boston, Chailestown, 
Dorchester, Roxbury, and other towns, were settled. 

H. '^riie first general couit, held at Char'estown, ventured to deviate 

from their charter in a matter of gieat moment: a law was passt-d, 

declaring that none should be freeiiien, or be entitled to any share in 

llie government, except those who had been received as members ol 

O o 55 



434 UNITED STATES. 

the church. The fanatica. spirit continued to increase. A niinistei 
of Salem, named Rog;er Williams, having conceived an aver.-^ion lo 
the cross of St. George, a S3-mbol in llie English standard, declaimed 
against it with great vehemence, as a relic of superstition ; and Endi- 
cott, in a transport of zeal, cut oui the cross from tlie ensign displayed 
[>efore the governor's gate. This frivolous matter divided the colony ; 
but the malter was at length compromised by retaining the cross in 
the ensigns of ibrls and vessels, and erasing it from the colours ot the 
militia. 

9. In 1,636, Williams was banished from Salem ; and, accompanied 
by many of his hearers, the exile went south, purchased a tract of 
land of the natives, to which lie gave the name cA Providence ; ami a 
Mr. Coddington, with seventy-six odiers, exiled from Boston, bought 
a fertile island on Narraganset bay, that acquired the name of Rhode- 
Fsland. Mr. Coddington embraced the sentiments of the Quakers, or 
Friends ; he received a charter from the British parliament, in which 
it was ordered, that " none were ever to be molested for any diffeience 
of opinion in religious matters :'' yet, the very first assembly conve/i- 
ed under this authorit}', excluded Roman catholics from voting al 
elections, and from every office in the government ! 

10. To similar causes the state of Connecticut is indebted for its 
origin. Mr. Hooker, a favourite minister of Massachusetts, with 
about one hundred families, after a fatiguing march, settled on the 
western side of the river Connecticut, and laid the foundation of Hart- 
ford, Springfield, and Weathersfield. Their Fight to this territeiy 
was disputed by the Dutch, who had settled at the mouth of the 
Hudson, and by the lords Say-and-Seal and Brook, who had com- 
menced the settlement called Say-Brook. The Dutch were soon ex- 
pelled; and tlie others uniting with the colony, all were incorporated 
by a rojal chartei'. 

11. New-Hampsliire was first settled in the spring of 1,623, under 
the patronage of sir Ferdinando Goi-p-es, captain .Tchn Mason, and 
several others, who sent over David Thompsoti, a Scot, Edward and 
William Hilton, and a number of people, furnished with the requisite 
supplies. One company landed at a place called Little Harbour : the 
olhers settled at Dover. Mr. Wheelwright, a clergyman banished from 
Massachusetts, founded Exeter, in 1 /)3!). 

12. fllaine was not permanently .settled until 1,635. Gorges ob- 
tained a grant of this territory, which remained under its own govern- 
ment untn 1,652, when its soil and jurisdiction, as far as the middle of 
Casco bay, was claimed by Blassachusetts. 

13. The mutual hostility of the English and Indians commenced 
U'ith the first setlieinent ; but it was not until the year 1,637, that a 
systematic warfare was begun. The Pequods, who brought into the 
field more than a thousand warriors, were exterminated in a few 
months by the combined troops ol" Massachusetts and Connecticut. 
In the night, the Pequod's were attacked, near the head of Mistic, by 
the Connecticut troops and Narraganset Indians, commanded by cap- 
tain Mason : in a lew moments, five or six hundred lay gasping in 
their blood, or were silent in the arms of death. '" The darkness, of 
flif> fore>t," observes a New-England author, " the blaze of the 
d\vr!ling>-, Ihegliastly looks C)f tlu' dead, tlx; gToans of the dying, the 
slirit'ks of the women and children, the yells of the friendly savages, 
presented a scene of .^uldimily and terrcr indescribably dreadiul.'" 

14. In 1,643, an alliance for mutual defence was fomied between the 
New-England colonies, excepting Rhode-Islar.d, which Ma&sachusetts 



UNITED STATES. 435 

was unwilling to admit. This alliance continued until the churters 
were annulled by James tho second. 

15. Up to 1,638, tuenlj-one thousand British sul)jccts had settled 
in New-England ; and the country had begun to extend the tislieries, 
and to export corn and hiinber to tiie West Indies. In 1,656, tiie per- 
secution of the Quakeis was at its height. A number ol" tliese iuollen- 
sive people having arrived in the Massachusetts colony, ("rom England 
and Barbadoes, and given ot!"ence to the clergy ol the establisiicd 
church by the novelty ol their religion, Avere imprisoned, and by the 
fiist opportunity sent away. A laAV was passed, which prohibited 
masters of ships iVom bringing Qiiakers into Massachusetts, and them- 
sejvcfs tVoin coming there, under a graduated penalty, rising, in case 
Ol a return i'rtmi banishment, to death. In consequence, several were 
hanged ! These pj'oc((edings are still the more reprehensible and re- 
markable, when contrasted with a previous declaration of their govern- 
ment, which tendered " hospitality and succour to all chiistian 
strangers, tlying from wars, famine, or the tyranny of persecution." 
The anabaptists were also persecuted ; many were disfranchised, and 
some were banislied. 

16. On the accession of James II., several of the Nevv-Erigland 
colonies were deprived of their charters ; but these, with various un- 
important modifications, were restored after the revolution. Sir 
\\ iJliam Phipps, a native of Maine, who rose to wealth and power in 
a manner the most extraordinary, was the first governor of Massachu- 
setts under the new charter. With a force of seven hundred men, he 
wrested from the French, L'Acadie, now called Nova Scotia. He 
atterwards made an unsuccessful attempt on Quebec, with the loss of 
one thousand men. The new charter, whilst it curtailed the libeities, 
extended the territoiy of Massachusetts ; to it were noAV annexed New 
Plymouth, Maine, and Nova Scotia, Avith all the countiy between the 
latter and the river Si. Lawrence ; also Elizabeth islands, Martha's 
\ ineyard, and Nantucket. The people, however, had just reason to 
complain that they no longer chose their governor, under whose contiol 
was the militia, and who levied taxes without their consent, and tried 
capital oftiinces. 

17. About this time the pillars of society were shaken to the foun- 
dation, in and about Salem, l)y imaginaiy witchcraft. The delusion 
commenced at Salem village, now Danvers, in the family of Kev. 
Samuel Paris. Two young girls, one a daughter of Mr. Paris, aged 9; 
the other a niece, aged. 11, were affected with singular nervous dis- 
orders, which, as they badled the skill of the physician, \yere thought 
to i)ioceed irom an "' evil hand." The children weie believed l)y 
the neighbours to be liewitched, and the belief, sanctioned ])^ the 
opinion of the physician, became general throughout the vicinity, 
'liie more the girls were noticed and pitied, the more singular and 
extravagant was their conduct. Upon the advice of the neighbouring 
mini.-ters, two or three piivate fasts w^ere first kept ; afterwards a pub- 
lic one in the village and other congregations; and finally, the general 
court appointed a fast through the colony. This cour.-ie gave the 
occurrences a solenm aspect, and probably contributed to the public 
credulity, till the supposeil witchcraft had extended throughout a great 
part of the county ol Es.'^ex. The inHituation prevailed fiom .Alarch 
t») October, 1,692, during which time twenty persons, men and women, 
were executed. It was ihen that suspicion roused from its lethai"gy ; 
condemnation ceased ; the accusers were silent ; those under sentence 
were repritved, and afterwards pardoned. 



436 - UNITED STATES. 

18. In the years 1,627 and '38, '63 and '70, New-England expe- 
rienced violent earthquakes. In the year 1,638, Harvard college, 
near Ho.'ton, the oldest seminary of learning in the United Stales, was 
lonnded. Four hundred pounds were voted to it hy the general court ; 
and this sum was nearly doubled by a bequest from Mr. Johu Harvard, 
a minister of Charh.'stown. This institution is now the m.ost richly 
endowed of all the Am.erican colleges. Yale college, at New-Haven, 
was founded in 1,701, ten years after that of William and Mary, in 
Virginia ; and Dartmcjth college, in New-Hampshire, was fouiided 
in 1,769. The first printing press established in the British colonies 
v\a» in 1,639, at Canibridge, superintended by Stephen Dnye ; but 
erected chielly at the expense of Mr. Glover, an English cleigyman, 
who died on his passage to America. 

19. Maryland, the first colony tliat, from its beginning, w^as directly 
goverru'd as a province of the British empire, was found-iid by sir 
(jeorge Calvert, baron of Baltimore, in Iieland ; a Roman catholic 
noljleman, born in England. He first went to Virginia ; but meeting 
an unwelcome reception there, on account of his religion, he fixed his 
attention to the lands north of the Potomac, and obtained a grant of 
them from Charles h This cc'unlry was called Maryland, in honuui 
f>f ihe queen, Henrietta Maria. 'J be religious toleration established 
by I he charier, the first diaft.of wiiich is said tt) have been written by 
sir George himself, is honourable to his memoiy. The giant was 
given to his eldest son, Cecil ius, who succeeded to his titles ; but 
Leonard Calvert, brother to Cecilius, was the first governor, and made 
llie firsl stand, at an iilatvl in the l-'otomac, which he named St. 
Clements, in 1,633. He made several purchases of the Indians, witli 
uhom he cultivated a constant friendship, as uell on the Potomac, as 
')n both shores of the Chesapeake. Never did any people enjoy more 
haprdness than the inhabitanls of Maryland. Whilst Virginia liarnss- 
cd ail who dissented from the English churcli, and the northern colonies 
all who dissented bom the puritans, the Ivoman catholics of Mnryhuul, 
a y.t.a who in ih.e old world never professed the doctrine of loleration, 
rtt«i\(d and protected iheir brethren of every christian church, and 
i;> jvnjMilation was i;!)iidly increased. 

20. Ai)out the middle of the seventeenth century, some emigrants, 
chielly from Viiginia, began a settlement in the county of Albemarle , 
and soon afterwards, another establishment was commenced at cape 
Fear, by adventurers from Massachusetts. These were held together 
by the laws of nature, without any written code, for son.e hme. But 
Charles H. compelled the colonists to become subservient to his rule, 
and granted to lord Clarendon and others the tract of land which now 
composes North and South Carolina : perfect freedom in religion Vi'as 
granted in the charter. The fi-rst settlement was placed under the 
command of sir William Berkeley, governor of Virginia, who assigned 
his authority to Mr. Drummond. in 1,761, the proprietors extended 
their settlements to the banks of Ashley and Cooper rivers, where 
C'iiarleston now stands ; and eventually this became the separate state 
of South Carolina. The culture of cotton commenced here in 1,700, 
and that of indigo in 1,748. 

?1. New- York -was first settled by the Dutch, and was li^ them 
held for about half a century. It was, howeve:, claimed by England 
as the first discoverer. Peter Stuyvesant, the third and last Dutch 
governor, began his administration in 1,647, and was distinguished no 
less tor his fidelity than h.is vigilance. In 1,664 tlie colony .surrendered 
to the English ; aiid the whole territory now comprisiiig New-York. 



UiMTED STATES. 43T 

New-Jersey, together with Pennsylvania, Delaware, and a part of 
Corrneclicut, was asKijrned by Charles 11. lo his brother the duke ot 
V'ork. The Dutch iiiiiabilants remained ; Stuyvesant retained his 
estate, and died in the colony. The country' was £ovenM;d by the 
duke's officers until I,6;i8 ; when representatives of the people weie 
allowed a voice in the legislature. 

2-2. In 1,664, the duke of York sold that part of his grant now call- 
ed New-Jersey to lord Berkeley and sir Geoige Carteri't. It had 
previously been settled by Hollanders, Swedes, and Danes. TIk; 
county of Bei^en was the first inhabited ; and very soon the towns of 
Elizabeth, Newark, Middleton, and Shrewsbury were settled. The 
college, originally established at Newark, was, in l,74f?, finally fixed 
at Princeton : its chief benefactor was governor Belcher. Ainoiig the 
governors of New-.f'ersey was the celeijrated Barclay, author of the 
Apology for the Quakers, of which sect a laige number had establish- 
ed themselves there. 

23. Pennsylvania was founded by William Pcnn, son of a distin- 
guished admiral of the same name. From principle this excellent 
rnan joined the Qiiakers, then an obscure and persecuted sect. As 
one of the membeis, and a preacher. Penn was repeatedly imprisoned ; 
but he plead Ids own c?u»e with great boldness, and procured his own 
acquittal from an independent jury, who with himself were imprisoned 
until an unjust penally was paid. In 1,681, he purchased of'Charies 
the tract now called Pennsylvania, for an acquittance of sixteen thou- 
sand pounds due to his father ; and soon after, he ol)tained from the 
duke of York a conveyance of the town of New-Castle, with the 
country which now forms the state of Delaware. The first colony, 
who were chiefly of his own sect, began their settlement above tiie 
confluence of the Schuylkill and Dehnvare rivers. In August, l,fi8'J, 
this amiable man embarked, with about two thousand cmigraiUs, a;id 
in October, arrived in the Delaware. Besides his own people, he 
was aided in the first settlement by Swedes, Dutch, Finlandeis, and 
other English. The first legislative assembly was held at Chester, at 
that time called Upland. Among the first laws was one which de- 
clared "■ that none, acknowledging one God, and living peaceably in 
society, should be molvsted for his opinions or his practice ; nor be 
compelled to frequent or maintain any minisiiy whatever." Pliiladel- 
phia was begun in 1,683 ; and in 1,699, it ct)ritained seven hundred 
houses, and about four thousand inhabitants. During the first seventy 
years of this settlement, no instance occurred of the Indians killiiic 
unarmed people. The wise and good man, Penn, made every exer- 
tion and sacrifice to promote the peace and prospenly of liis fnouiilo 
colony ; and between the persecution he had to encounter in F^r.gland 
and the difliculties in Pennsylvania, his lifi- w.is a continued scene oi 
vexation — his private fortune was materially injured by the adv.uices 
he made — he was harassed Ijy his creditois, and dbligc d to undeigo a 
temporary deprivation of his personal liberty. He clieil in London, ir 
1,718, leaving an inlieritance to his cliiklren, ultiiiialc'y of iiiiiuei.-e 
value, which they enjoyed until the revolution, when it'\\,is a--igiu(i 
to the commonwealth lor an equitable sum of money. In tiie intena! 
between 1,730 and the war of the re\()hilion, in this st.'.h, liiere was a 
great influx of emigrants, i)riiicij)ally Ironi G( ini.Miv and irelaiui ; and 
these people early brouiiiit the u-eful ait- and PiaiHifacture- into Peiiii- 
syivaiiia. To the Germans, she is indebted for the spinning and 
weaving of linen and \voollen cloths ; to the Irish, for various trades 
indispensable to use fill agriculture. 
Oo2 



438 UNITED STATES. 

24. Delaware was first settled in l,fi27, by the Swedes and Fin- 
landers, and the colony bore the name of New-Sweden. It wag 
afterwards con(]iiered by the Dutch f'roni Ne\^-Yo^k, and remained 
subservient to that colony until it pa«sed into the hands of the 
Eng:lii-h. ■ " 

5;5. Geoi'gia was the last settled of the thirteen colonies that re- 
volted from Britain. It rccei\cd its name from George II. In 
November, 1,732, one hundred and sixteen persons embarked at 
Gravesend, under general Og-lethorpe ; and early in the ensuing' year 
ai-rived at Charleston. From this port thry proceeded to their destin- 
ed territory, and laid the Ibundation of Savannah. The Spaniard 
laid claim to this territory, anil made extensive preparations to attack 
it. But tlirough the finesse of Oglelhorpe in practising an inaocent 
deception, their plans were defeated. For many years, this settle- 
meiit languished from a variety of causes. General Ogletiiorpe was 
distinguished as a soldier, a stntesnian, ai:d a philanthropist. At the 
hegiiining of the American revolution, he was offered the command of 
the British army in America, but this from principle he declined. 
After the contest was derided, he died at the age of ninety-seven 
years, being the oldest general in the British service. 



SECTION IV. 

WAR WITH FRANCE, AND CONQUEST OF CANADA. DIS- 
PUTES WITH GREAT BRITAIN, AND WAR OF THE REVO- 
LUTION. 

1. N'fari.y coeval with the first English settlement atJam.es Town, 
in Virjiinia, was the establishment of a French colony at QijeLec, on 
die great river St. Lawrence. The question of boundaiy between 
England and France, had long been a subject of unavailing negotia- 
tion. France, beside having Canada in the north, had also discovered 
and settled on Mississippi in the south ; and in 1,753, she strove, by a 
military chain, liie link's of which were to be fomied by outposts 
sti etching along the Ohio and the lakes- to connect these two extrem- 
ilies, and tiius restrain the British colonists to a small territoi}' on the 
Atlantic ocean, if not entirely expel them from the country. The 
que-lion of jurisdiction rema.ined to be decided by the sword. Re- 
peated complaints of violence having come to the ears uf the governor 
of Virginia, he determined to send a S'.iitaijie person to the Fiench 
conmiandant at fort Du Quesne, (now Fittsburgli,) demanding the 
reas(;n of his hostile procecidiiigs, and insisting that he should evacuate 
(he fort which he had recently erected. For tliis arduous undertakii g, 
George Washington, a maior of militia, then little more than twe'Hy- 
one years of age, offered his services. I'iie execution of this ta^k 
seems to have been accomplished with all that prudence and courage 
which were so eminently displayed by thi"; hero in after life. At 
imniincnt peril, being ^vaylaid and fired at by Indians, he not oniy 
taiflifuiiy acconip-ishetl ll;e erraiid on which he had been sent, liu. 
gained extensive information of '.he disfancfS and bearings of piac«?, 
and of the number, size, ana sirengih of nearly all the enemj 's 
(ortjesses. 

2. 'i'he reply of the French commander brought matters to a crisis ,• 
and in 1,754, the Virginian assembly organized a regiment, to supp-'Tf 



UNITED STATES. 439 

the claims of the English over the territory in dispute : of this regi- 
■meiit a Mr. Fry was appointed colonel, and the young Washington 
lieutenant colonel. Colonel Fry dying, the command of the whole 
devolv«jd on Washington. The French having been strongly rein- 
Ibrcca, Washington was obliged to fall back, was attacked in works 
Mliicli he had not time to complete, and, after a brave delence, was 
obliged to capitulate ; the enemy allowing him to march out with the 
honours of Avar, and to retire unmolested to the inhabited parts ot 
Virginia. 

o. The next year, 1,755, general Braddock was sent from Europe 
to Virginia, \vilh two regiments, where he was joined by as many 
provin'ci'als as made his torce amount to twenty-two hundred. Brad- 
dock was a brave man, but lacked tliat courtesy which could conciliate 
the Americans, and that modesty which should profit froni the knowl- 
edge of those who better knew the ground over whicii he was to pass, 
and the mode of French and Indian wa'rfare, than himself. He push- 
ed on incautiously, until, within a few miles of fort Du Quesne, he fell 
into an ambush of French and Indians. In a short time, Washington, 
uho acted as aid to Braddock, and whose duty called him to be on 
horseback, Mas the only person mounted who was left alive, or not 
wounded. The van of the army was forced back, and the whole 
thrown into confusion. The slaughter was dreadful. Braddock was 
mortally Avounded. What was remarkable, the provincial troops pre- 
served their Older, and covered the retreat under Washington ; while 
the regulars broke their ranks, and could not be rallied. 

4. Three successive campaigns procured nothing but expense and 
disappointment to the English. With an inferior ibrce, the French 
had succeeded in every campaign ; and gloomy apprehensions were 
entertained as to the destiny of the British colonies. But in 1,756, a 
change of ministiy in England took place. William Pitt was placed 
at the helm. To despair, succeeded hope ; and to hope victory. 
Supplies were granted with liberality, and given without reluctance: 
soldiers enlisted freely, and fought with enthusiasm. In a short time, 
the French were dispossessed, not only of all the territories in dispute, 
but of Quebec, and her ancient province of Canada ; so that all which 
remained to her of her numerous settlements in North America, was 
Netv-Orieans, with a few plantations on the Mississippi. Full of 
youth and spirit, the gallant general Wolfe, who led the European and 
colonial troops to victoiy, fell before the walls of Quebec, in the 
moment of success. In 1,762, hostilities having raged nearly eight 
years, a general peace was concluded : France ceded Canada, and 

■Spain relinquished, as the price of recovering Havana, which had 
been taken by the British, both the Floridas to^Great Britain. 

5. Although the American colonies had principally contributedto 
the great extension of the power of Great Britain, co-operating with 
ibe vigilance of more than four hundred cruisers on ^he sea, and 
furnishing more than twenty-four thousand soldiers; yft the latter re- 
garded her plantations as mere instruments in h^f hands. On the 
contrary, the high sentiments of liherty and independence nurtured m 
the colonies from tlieir local situation and haJ^its, were increased by 
(he; removal of hostile neighbours. Ideas Avourable to independence 
increased ; and Avhilst conibustible raah^rials were collecting in the 
new world, a brand to enkindle them was preparing in the old. 

6. In 1,765, under the auspices of the minister, Geoi^e Grenville, 
the obnoxious stamp act passed m the British parliament ; by which 
the instruments of writing in daily use were to be null and void, unless 



440 UNITED STATES. 

executed on paper or parchment stamped with a specific duty : law 
documents, leases, deeds, and indenturrs, newspapers and advertise- 
m'ent.s. almanacs and pamphlets, executed and printed in America- 
all must cuntiibute to the British tieasury. The hill did not pa«;s 
without the decided ojjposition ct patriots in the Biilish legislature 
»vho lor(;told the result, and wiu) declared that, the colonies lieir^ 
I)lanted hy Briti.sh oppression, and having- assisted the mother country, 
tiKit the n.oilier liad ni) claim on the child to derive liom it a rexe-u e. 
'I'he bill did not take eO'ect until seven months after its passrg<' ; thus 
giving the colonists an opportunity oi' leisurely examining and vicn iig 
the s'ibject on eveiy side. They were struck with silent consterna- 
tion ; but the voice ot" opposition was first heard in Viigima. Faliick 
Ihmry, on the 2Uth of May, brought into the honst; ol' Largesses in 
that colony a number ol' resolutions, vhich ueie adopted, and whidj 
t.mcluded with declaring, " That every individual, x\lio, by spe:.kirg 
or acting, should assert or maintain, that any person or body of n;« n, 
except the general assemoly of the province, had any right to imptjse 
taxation theie, should be deemed an eneniy to his majesty's coloi.y."' 
These reso'utions were immediately disscnnnatcd through the other 
provinces ; the tongues and the pens of well-ini'ormed n>en laboured 
in the holy cause — the fire of liberty blazed ibrth Irom the press. Tlie 
assembly of Massachusetts passed a resolution in favour of a ctiutinenlal 
congresi.-5, and fixed a day lor its meeting at New-York, in October. 
The other colonies, with the exception of four, acce))led this invita- 
tion, and assembled at the appointed place. Here they agreed on a 
declaration of their rights. There was, however, a considiMahle de- 
gree of timidity evinced in this congress. 'J'he boldest and most im- 
f ressive arguments were offered by James Otis of Massachusetts. 

7. The time arrived lor tiie act to take effect ; and the aversion to 
it was expressed in still stronger terms throughout Uie colonies. By a 
common consent, its provisi(jns were disregarded, and business was 
conducted, in defiance of the parliament," as if no stamp act was in 
existence : associations were formed against importing British manu- 
factures until the law should be repealed ; and lawyers were prohib- 
ited from instituting any action f(,r money due to any inhabitant ot 
England. The spirited conduct of the colonists, atfecting the interests 
ol" the British merchants, had the desired effect. Warm discussions 
took place in the British parliament ', and the ablest speakers in both 
houses denied the justice of taxing the colonies. The opposition 
could not be withstood ; and in March, 1,766, the law was repealed. 

8. Simultaneously, however, widi jepealing this act, the British 
parliament passed another, declaring that the British parliament had 
a right to make laws binding the colonies in all cases whatever ; and 
soon alter another bill was passed, imposiiig in the colonies duties on 
glass, paper, painters' colours, and tea. The fire of opposition was 
now reliindled with additional ardour, by the same principle, exhibited 
in its new form. The best talents throughout the colonies were 
engaged, in the pulilic prints and in pamphlets, to work up the public 
feehng against the arbitrary measures of the British parliament. New 
associations were formed to suspend tiie importation of British manu- 
factures. The Massaduistiiv assembly, having passed resolutions to 
this effect, dre\v Torth the marlred di.' pleasuie of the crown ; and, on 
their refusal to cancel their resolutions, were ilissolved. 

9. In 1,768, Mr. Hancock's sloop Liberty was seized at Boston, for 
not entering all the wine? she had brought t'rom Madeira : this mrianied 
the populace to a high degree of resentment. Soon afterwards, two 



UNITED STATES. 441 

British regiments, and some armed vessels, were sent to Boston, to 
assist the revenue officers. The parliament, encourag;ed by the ex- 
pecfation of quelling the refractory by their arms, continued to dis- 
solve the opposing assemljlies : but the colonies remained firm in their 
purposes. 

10. Lord North succeeded the duko of Grafton, as British premier 
in 1,770 ; and the act was repealed imposing a duty on glass, paper, 
and painters* colours ; but that on tea was retained. Some slight 
prospect of allaj^ing the difficulties succeeded. But on the second of 
March an affray took place in Boston, between a private soldier and 
an inhabitant. This was succeeded, in a few days afterwards, by a 
m(j]) meeting a party of British soldiers under arms, who were dared 
to fire, and who at length did fire, and killed five persons. The cap- 
tain who commanded, and the troops who fired, were afterwards tried 
foi' murder, and acquitted. 

11. Th'Rgs continued in this mode of partial irritation until 1,773, 
when the British East India company were authorized to export their ' 
tea-to al' places, (ice of duty. As this would enable them to sell that 
article cheaper in America, with the government exactions, tfian they 
had before sold it without them, it was confidently calculated that teas 
might be extensively disposed of in the colonies. Large consignments 
of tea were sent to various parts, and agents appointed lor its disposal. 
The consignees, in several places, were compelled to relinquish their 
appointments. Popular vengeance prevented the landing at New- 
York or Phiiadelphia. In Boston it was otherwise. The tea tor the 
supply of that port was consigned to the sons and particular friends of 
governor Hutchinson. The tea was landed by the strenuous exertions 
of the governor and consignees. But soon a party of men, dressed as 
Indians, boarded the tea ships, broke open the cargoes, and threw the 
contents into the sea. Enraged against the people of Boston, the par- 
liament resolved to take legislative vengeance on that devoted town. 
Disregarding the forms of the British constitution, by which none are 
to be punished without trial, they passed a bill, closing, in a commer- 
cial sense, its port : its custom house and trade were soon after Re- 
moved to Salem. The charter of the colony was new modelled, so 
that the whole executive government was taken from the people, and 
tlie nomination to all important ollfices vested in the crown ; and it was 
enacted, that if any person was indicted for any capital offence com- 
mitted in aiding the magistrates, he might be sent to Great Britain or 
another colony for trial. Property, liberty, and life, were thus subject 
to ministerial caprice. The parliament went still further, and pa;:.sed 
an act extending the boundaries of Canada, southward to the Ohio, 
westward, to the Mississippi, and north\vard, to the borders of the 
Hudson's bay company, assimilating its laws with the French, which 
dispensed widi the trial by jury, and rendering the ixibabitants passive 
agents in the hands of power. 

12. The flame was no^v kindled in every breast ; and associations 
were formed, a-nd committees of correspondence were established, 
which produced a unity of thought and action throughout the colonies. 
General Gage, the British commander-in-chief, arrived in Boston, in 
1.774, with more troops, with the avowed intention of dragooning the 
refractory Bostonians into compliance. A general sympathy was 
excited for tiie suffering inhabitants of Boston : addresses poured in 
from all quarters ; Marhlehead offered to the Boston merchants the 
use of her wharves, and Salem refused to adopt the trade, the offer of 
which had been proffered as a temptation to her cupidity. Maira 

56 



442 UNITED STATES- 

rapidly approached a crisis. The preparations foi offence and defente, 
iiid'jcr-d general Gage 1o fortity Boston, and *0 seize on the poAvdef 
iodfftd at the arsenal at Charlcstown. 

13. In Seplemher. deputies troni most of" the colonies met in con- 
?res.«, at Philadelphm. These delegatrs appioved of the condw t of 
the people oC Massachusetts ;" wrote a letter to jrenera! (lage ; pub- 
lished a declaration of rights : ionned an association not U> iiiipoit or 
u'e British icoods ; sent a petition to the king of Great Britain ; an 
au.iress to the inhabitants of that kingdom ; anotlier to the inhabitants 
cf r.4nada ; and another to the inhabitants ot the colonies. In the 
Ijcirinning of the next year, (1,775,) was passed ihe Jishciy hill, by 
•.vhi( h the northern colonies nere forbidden to fish on the har.ks ot 
Nenfonndland lor a certain time. Tlvs bore hard upon the conimerce 
of diese colonies, which was in a great measure supported by the 
fishery. 

14. S<ion after, another bill was passed, which restrained the trade 
of the middle and southern colonies to Great Britain, Ireland, and the 
West Indies, except under certain conditions. These repeated acts 
of oppression on the j)art of Great liiitain, alienated the af^fections of 
America from her parent and sovereign, and produced a combined 
opposition to the ^vho'e system of taxation. Preparations began to be 
made to oppose by force the executi(;n of these acts of parliament. 
'J'lie militia of the ccMintry were trained to the use of arms — great 
enc(jur;;gem(^nt was gi\en to the manufacture of gunpowder, and 
me;:sures ivere taken to obtain all kinds of ndlitar}' stores. 

15. In February, colonel Leslie was sent with a detachment of 
troops from Boston, to take possession of some cannon at Sakin. But 
the pe«)ple had intelligence of the design — took up the drawbridge it) 
that town, and prevented the troops from passing, until the cannon 
Were secured ; so that the expedition failed, hi April, colonel Sirnth 
and major Pitcairu were sent with a l;ody of troops, to destroy the 
military stones which had been collected at Concord, about twenty 
miles "from Boston. At Lexington the militia were collected on a 
green, to oppe.se the incursion of the Biitish forces. These were fired 
upon liv the British troops, and eight men killed on the spot. 

16. The militia were dispersed, and the tioops proceeded to Con- 
cord ; where they destroyed a few stores. But on their return they 
were incessantly harasse<l by the Americans, Avho, mflamed wilhji;s» 
resentment, fired upon themYiom houses and fences, and pursued them 
to Boston. Here was split \hejirst blood in the war which se\eix'd 
America from the British empire. Lexington opened the first scene 
i)f the great drama, which, in its progress, exhibited the most illustri- 
t)us characters and events, and closed witii a revolution, equally 
glorious tor the actors, and important m its consequences 'o the huni.m 
race. This battle luu^ed all America. The militia collected fpcm 
ail quarters, and Boston was in a ^f:\\ day? besieged by twenty thou- 
sand men. A stop was put to all intercoujse between the town and 
country, and the inhab:tants were reduced to great wr;nt of provisions. 
General Gage promised to let the people depart, if tney would deliver 
u|) tlieir arms. The people complied ; but when the general had 
obtained their arms, the perfidious wretch refused to let the people go 

M. In tiie mean time, a small number of men, under the comma. mJ 
of colonel Allen and colonel Easton, wiihout any public orders, sur- 
prised and took the British garrison at TicondeVoga, Avithoul the losS' 
of a man. 

18. In June followmg, our troops attempted to fortify Bunker's \i\\\t 



UNITED STATES. 443 

which lies in Charlestown, and but a mile and a half from Bostont 
They h:i(K during the nii^iit, Ihronn up ?. small ijieastwdik, which 
5li('lleied ihi^in tiom the tire of the Jjiiti.-h c;:ntioii. init th«' next 
ruon)iiij^-, the I'.iitis^ii army was sent to drive them from tiie hil! ; .ii'd 
luiidiiig iHuler rover of their cannon, they set fire to Charlestou n. w hicli 
ivas consumed, and marched to attack our troops in tiie eiUrenrhinenls. 
A severe engagement ensued, in which the British sulfered a very 
freat loss, both t»f otHcers and privates. They weie repulsed .-it fust, 
and thrown into disorder ; but they finally carried the lijrtification 
with the point of the bayonet. The Americans sufllered a small loss 
compareil witli the British ; but the death of the brave general Warren, 
who tell in the action, a mar'yr to the cause of his cnuntiy, was severe- 
ly tell and universally lamented. 

19. About this time, the coritinental congress appointed George 
Washiiigton, Esq. ^o the chief command of the continental army. 
This gentleman had been a distinguished and successful officer in the 
pieceding wai', and he seemed destined by Heaven to be the sa\ ioui 
of bis country. He accepted the appointment with a ditfidence which 
was a proof of his prudence and his greatness. He refused any pay 
for eight years' laborious and arduous service ; and by his matchless 
skill, fortitude, and perseverance, conducted America, through inde- 
scribable diihculties, to independence and peace. While true merit is 
esteemed, or virtue honoured, mankind will never cease to revere the 
memory of this hero ; and while gratitude remains in the human 
breast, the piaiGes of Washington shall dwell on every Americai* 
tongue. 

i'O. General Washmgton, with other officers appointed bj' congress, 
arrived at Cambridge, and took command of the American army in 
J jly. From this time, the aflairs of America began to assume the 
appearance of a regular and general opposition to the forces of Great 
tritain. 

21. In autumn, a body of troops, under the command of general 
Montgomeiy, besieged and \:ki\<. the garrison at St. John's, which 
commaiids the entrance into Canada. The prisoners amounted to 
about seven hundred. General Montgomery pursued his success, and 
took Montreal, and designed to push his victories to Quebec. A body 
of troops, commanded by Arnold, was ordered to march to Canada, 
by the river Kennebec, and through the wilderness. After suffering 
every hardship, and the iriost distressing hunger, they arrived in 
Canada, and were joined by general M-ontgomery, before Quebec. 
This city, which was comnranded by governor Carieton, v;as innne- 
diately besieged. But there being little hope of taking the town by 
a siege, it was determined to storm it. The attack was made on the 
last day of Decembei, but proved unsuccessful, and fatal to the brave- 
general, who, with liis aid, was killed in attem-ptirig to scale ihe avails. 
Of tiie three divisions which attacked the town, one t^nly enteied, nnd 
that was compelled to surrendei- to superior force- Alter this defeat, 
Arnold, who now commanded the troops, contin'-ed some months before 
Quebec, although his troops suffered incred-'ftly by cold and sickness. 
But the next spring the Americans were o-'^liged to retreat from C.mada. 

22. About this time the large and flourishing town o( Nortolk, in 
Virginia, was wantonly burnt I)V order of lord Dunmore, the n.yaj 
"overuor. General Gyge we.it to England in Septeuiber, and was 
succeeded in command bv general Howe. FalmouUi, a considerable 
town in the province o( iViaine, in Massachusetts, shared the tate ol 
Norfolk ; being laid in ashes by order of the British admiral. 



444 UNITED STATES. 

23. Tlie British king- entered into treaties Avilii some of the German 
princes f(ir about seventeen thousand men, who \v(;re to be sent to 
Ain<!rica Ihe next year, to assist in sut)duin«" Ibe colonies. The British 
Darliament also passed an act, torbidding ail intercourse nith America ; 
and while they repealed the 13oston port and lishery bill-^, the}' declar- 
ed all American property on the high seas t'orleitecl to the captors. 
Tills act uiduced cons:ress to change the mode oi'cariyingon the war ; 
aijd nieasuies were taken to annoy the enemy in Boston. For this 
|)ur])ose, batteries were (pened on several hills, from whence shot ai.d 
bombs were thrown into the town. But the batlc-ries which were 
opened on Dorchester point liad the best etTecl, and soon obliged 
general Howe to abandon the town. In March, 1,776, the Brilisb 
troops embarked for Halifax, and general Washington entered the 
town in triumph. 

24. In the ensuing summer, a small squadron of ships, under the 
command of sir Peter Parker, and a body of troops under the gene- 
rals Clinton and Cornwallis, attemjUcd to take Charleston, the capital 
of South Carolina. The ships made a violent attack upon the ibrt on 
Sullivan's island, but were repulsed with great loss, and the expedition 
was abandoned. 

25. In July, congress published their declaration of independence, 
which for ever separated Ameiica from Great Britain. This great 
event took place two hundred and eighiy-fonr years alter the first dis- 
covery of America by Columiius — one hundred and seventy froni the 
first effectual settlements in Virginia — and one hundred and fifty-six 
from the first settlement of Plymouth in Massachusetts, which were 
llie earliest English settlements in America. Just after this dor lara- 
tx-n, general Howe, with a powerful force, arrived near New- York, 
a:<d landed the troops upon Statcn Island. General Washington was 
Jii New- York, with about thirteen thovsand men, encamped eitiier in 
the city, or in the neighbouring fortifications. 

26. The operations of the "British began by the action on Long 
Island, in the month of August. The Americans were defeated, and 
general Sullivan and lord^Stcrling, with a large body of men, weie 
made prisoners. The night afler the engagement, a retreat was 
ordered, and executed with such silence, that the Americans left the 
island without alarming their enemies, and without loss. In Septem- 
ber, the city of New- York was abandoned by the American army, and 
taken by the British. 

27. In November, fort Washington, on Y'ork Island, was taken, and 
more than two thousand men made prisoners. Foi t Lee, opposite to 
fort Washington, on the Jersey shore, was soon after taken, but the 
garrison escaped. About the same time, general Clinton was sent, 
with a body of troops, to take possession of lihode Island, and suc- 
ceeded. In addition to all these losses and defeats, the American 
army si'ffered by desertion, and more by sickness, which was epidemic, 
and \ery mortal. 

28. The northern atwiy, at Ticondoroga, was in a disagreeable 
eiUiation, pai-ticularly afte'rthe battle on lake Champlain, in which the 
American Ibice, consisting of q few light vessels, under the command 
of Arnold and general Waterbur> , was totally dispersed. But general 
Carleton, instead of pursuing his viu^iy, landed at Crown Point, le- 
connoitered our posts at TTconderoga a>.id Mount Independence, and 
tetunied to winter quarters in Canada. 

29. At the close of this year, the American s-nny was dwindled to a 
handlul of men; and general Lee was taken prisoner in New-Jersey. 



UNITED STATES. 445 

Far fioni being discon.-aged at these losses, congress took measure? to 
raise and e?tablisl) nn army. In this critical situation, genera! \Va>h' 
in^^t'in Kurprist.J and to()^< a larg-e body of h'es.^ians, wJio Were c.iiitor- 
ri{ at Trenton ; and soon af','?r, anolher body of the British troops, nt 
Princeton. Tho address in piannms; and exocntnig- these enterprisee, 
n'llecled the hijrliest honour o>i tiie commander, and ihe success leviv- 
ed tlie desponding- hopes of America. The loss of g-enera-j Mercer, a 
gallant ofticer, at Princeton, was the principal circumstance tliat allay- 
ed !he joy of victoiy. 

30. 'Jlie follovviiig year, (1.777,) was distinguislsed by v?iy memo- 
rable events in i'avour of America. On the opening of the campaign, 
governor Tryon was sent, WMth a body of troops, to destroy die st'>"re3 
at Danbury, in Connecticut. This plan was executed, and the town 
mostiy burnt. The eneniy suffered in their retreat, snd the Americans 
lost geiuiral Wooster, a brave and ex [lerienced ofticer. General Prcs- 
cott was taken tVom his quarters on Rhode Island, by the address and 
enterprise of colonel Barton, and conveyed prisoner to the continent. 
General Burgoyr.e, who commanded the northern British army, took 
possession of Ticonderoga, which had been abandoned by (he Ameri- 
cans. He pushed his successes, crossed lake George, and encamped 
upon the banks of the Hudson, near Saratoga, flis progress Avas 
however checked by the defeat of colonel Baum, near Bennirgton, in 
which the undisciplinod militia of Vermont; under general Stark, dis- 
plaj-ed unexanip'ed bravery, and captured almost the whole detach- 
ment. The militia assembled Irom all parts of New-England, 1o stop 
the progress of general Burgoync. These, with the resiular troops, 
formed a respectable army, commanded by general Gates. After 
two severe actions, in which the generals Lincoln and Arnold, behavf;d 
M ith uncommon gallantly, and were wounded, general Burgoyne found 
hiriiself enclosed v.ith brave troops, and was forced to surrend«;r his 
whole army, amounting to srven lhc!isaiid men, into the hanils ofthe 
Americans. This hn])peried in October. This event dilTused a uni- 
versal joy over America, and laid a foundation for the treaty with 
France. 

;>1. But before these transactions, tlie main body of the British 
forces bad embarked at New-York, sailed up the Chesapeake, and 
landed at the head of Elk river. The army soon began their march 
for Philadelphia. General Washington had determined to oppo^^c 
them, and for this purpose nuide a stand upi)n the heights near Brandy- 
v\ ine creek. Here the armies engaged, and the Americans ^vf;re over 
powered, and suffered great loss. The er.emy yccn jiursued their 
march, and look possession of Philadelphia townrils the close of Sep- 
tember. Not long atter, the two armies were again engaged at Ger- 
man'.own, and in the begMining of the r.ction the Americans had the 
advantage ; but by sonie unlucky accirlent, the fortune of the day 
was turned in favour of the British. Both sides sufl'ei'ed considerable 
loss ; on the side of the Americans was general Nash. 

3-2. In an attack upon tlie forts at Mud Island and Pved Bank, (he 
Hessians were unsuccesslul, and their commander, colonel Dom p, 
killed. The British also lost the Augusta, a ship of the line. Uut 
(he forts ^vere afterwards taken, and the navigation of the Delaware 
opened. General Washington was reinforced with pari cf the troops 
which liad composed the rtirtliern army, under general Gates : and 
Doth armies retired to winter quarters. 

33." In October, the same month in which general Burgoyne was 
taken at Saratoga, general Vaughar. v-ith a small fleet, sailed up 
P p 



446 UmTF.D STATES. 

Hudson's river, and wantonly Inirnt Kingston, a beautiful Dutch settle- 
ment, on the west side ol" the river. 

34. The beginning- of the next j^eav (1,778) v.r.s distinpiiished by a 
treaty of alliance between France and America ; by whicli we obtain- 
ed a powerful ally. When the Englisli niinistry were informed that 
this treaty was on foot, they despatched conmn'ssioners to America, 
to attempt a reconciliation. But America woukl not now accept their 
otfers. Early in the spring, count de Estaing, with a ileet of fifteen 
sail of the line, Avas sent liy the court cf France to assist America. 

35. General Howe left the army, and returned to England ; the 
command then devolved upon sir Henry Clinton. In June, the Bi itish 
army left Philadclpliia, and niarclied f(<r New-York. On llieir marcli 
they were much annoyed by the Americans ; and at Monmouth a very 
regular action took place between part of the aiinio'^; the enemy were 
repulsed with great loss ; ar.d had general Le^ obeyed his orders, a 
signal victory must have been obtained. General Lee, lor his ill con- 
duct that day, was suspended, and W'as never afterwards permitted to 
join the army. 

36. ill August, general Sullivan, with a large body of troops, at- 
tempted to take possession of Rhode. Island, bet did not succeed. 
^oon after, the stores and shipping at Bedforf!, in Massachusetts, were 
burnt by a party of British troops. The same year. Savannah, the 
capital of Georgia, was taken by tlie British, n>ider the command of 
colonel Campbell. In the tbllowing year, (1,779,) general Lincojii 
was appointed to the command of the southern army. Governor 
Tryon anr sir George Collier made an incursion into Connecticut, 
and burnt, with wanton barijarity, the towns of ['"aiilield and Norwalk. 

37. But the American arms were crowned with success in a bold 
a'tack upon Stony Poin!, which was surprised and taken by general 
vViyne, in the night of the 15th of July. Five hundred men were 
made prisoners, Avith a small loss on either side. A parly of British 
lLoiv.es attempted, this summer, to Iniild a fort on Penobscot river, for 
the purpose of cutting timber in the neighbouring forests. A plan was 
hiid, liy Massachusetts, to dislodge them, and a considerable fleet col- 
lected for the purpose. But the plan failed of success, and the whole 
ip.arine lorce fell into the hands of die Briti.sh, except some vessels, 
which were burnt by the Americans themselves. 

38. In October, general Lincoln and count de Estaing made an 
assault upon Savannah ; but they were repulsed, widi considerable 
loss. In this action, the celebiated Polish count Polaski, who had ac- 
quired die reputation of a brave soldier, was mortally wounded. 1» 
Uiis sun-,nier, genera! Sullivan marched, with a body of troops, into 
tliH Indian conuliy, and burnt and destroyed all their provisions and 
seUlcmenl.-. tiiat tell in his \\:\y. 

39. C)ii ihc opening of ttie"^campaign, the next year, (l,780,) the 
British troops It-ft Rhode Island. An expedition under general Clin- 
ton an i lord Cornwallis, was undertaken against Charleston, South 
Carolina, where general Lincoln commanded. This town, after a close 
si.ge of about six weeks, was surrendered to the British commander ; 
and gi;neral Lincoln, and the whole American garrison, were made 
pnsrnt rs. 

40. General Gales was appointed to die command in the southern 
department, and another army collected. In August, lord Cornwallis 
atta.cked the American troops at Camden, in South Carolina, and rout- 
ed them with considerable loss. He afterwards marched through tlis 
Bouthern states, and supposed Ihem entirel}' subdued. The sanr^ 



UNITED STATES. 447 

funin-ifciY the Britis-li troops made frequent iiicinsions from New-Yorls 
inlo tlic .Nirseys; rav;io^iiig and plundcritiG; (lie countiy. In some ot 
these dencenls^ tlie Rev. Mr. Calducll, a rei^peclable clergyman and 
waiiTi patriot, and his lady, were inhuniauly murdered by the sava^je 
.soldieiy. 

41. In July, a French fleet, under Monsieur de Ternay, Avilii a 
Ijo iy of land forces, commanded by count de liochambcau, arrived at 
l\liu(ie*lr.land, to ihe great joy of the Americans. 

'12. Tliis year was also distinguished by tlie infamous treason of 
Anuild. General Washington havmg seme business to transact at 
Weathersfieid, in Connecticut, left Arnold to command )he important 
post of West Point, wliich guards a pass in Hudson's river, about sixty 
miies from New-York. Arnold's conduct in the city of Philadelphia, 
tlie preceding winter, had been censured, and the treatment he receiv- 
ed in cdtisequence had given him offence. He determined to have 
revenge ; and lor this purpose he entered into a negotiation with sir 
Henry Clinton, to deliver West Point and the army into the hands of 
the British. While general Washington was absi'Ut, he dismounted 
the caniKjn in some of the furts, and took other steps to render the 
taking of the post easy lor the enemy. But by a providential discov- 
ery, the whole plan was defeated. Major Andre, aid to genera! 
Cimton, a brave officer, who had been up the river as a spy, to con- 
cert the plan of operations with Arnold, was taken, condemned by a 
c(jurt-marlial, and executed. Arnold made his escape by getting on 
board the Vulture, a British vessel which lay in the river. His con- 
duct has stamped him with infamy, and, like all traitors, h" is despised 
by all mankind. General Was'hington arrived in carnp just af!er 
Arnold had made his escape, and rcsiored order in the garrison. 

4:5, After the defeat of general Gates, in Carolina, general Green 
was appointed to the command in the southern department. Frui.-; 
this period, things in this quarter wore a more favourable aspect. 
Colonel Tarleton, the active conmiandt-r of the British legion, was 
defeated by general Moigan, the intrepid commander of the riflemen. 
After aVariety of movements, the two armies met at Guilford, in Noilh 
Carolina. Here was one of the best tbiight actions during the war. 
General Greene arid lord Cornwallis exerted themselves, at the head 
of their respective armies, and, although Ihe Americans were obliged 
to retire from the field of battle, yet the British army suffered an im- 
m<-:ise loss, and could not pursue the victoiy. This action happened 
on liie 15th of March, 1,781. 

■t4. In the sprii^g", Arncjld, who ^vas made a brigadier-general in the 
British service, with a small nu:nber of troops, sailed lor Virginia, and 
plundered the country. This called the attention of the French fleet 
to that quarter, and a naval engagement look place, between the 
English and French, in which some of the English ships were much 
damaged, and one entirely disaijled. 

45. After the battie at Guilford, gen' ral Greene moved towards 
South Carolina, to drive the British from their posts in that state. 
Here lord Rawdon obtained an incori;iiderab!e advantage ovei" tl;e 
Americans, near Cainden. But general Greene more thrm iccovert!U 
tiiis disadvantage, by the brilliant and successful action at the Eutaw 
sprinu> ; where general Marion distinguished iiimself, and the brave 
colonel Washington Avas wounded and taken prisoner. Lord Corn- 
wallis finding general Greene successful in Carolina, marched to Vir- 
ginia, collected his forces, and fortified himself in Yorktovvn. In tlie 
uwau time, Arnold made an incursion into Connecticut, burnt a part 



448 UNITED STATES. 

of New-London, tixjk fort Griswold by bloini, and put the garrison to 
the sword. The a-arrisori consisted cliiefly of men suddenly rollected 
frdiu tiie liUlc town of Groton, uliicli, by the sa^nge criiilly oi' ihe 
IMtisii officer wiio commanded the atiack, lof^t, in one hour, ;.hiuist 
all its iieads of families. Tlie brave ci)!()nei Lcdyard, wiio command- 
ed ihe furt, was slain with his own s-\vord, alter lie had suri'endcreil. 

4^. The marquis de la Fayette, the brave and g:enerous nobleman, 
ulw)se S(.'ivires conmiand the g^ratitude of eveiy American, had Ijeen 
<!' spalchecl from tlie n.ain army to watch the motions of l(;rd Coni- 
.Aallis. in Vir^'inia. About the last of August-, count de Gras^e anixed 
\\ ill) a large iieet in the Chesapeake, and blocked uj) the British troops 
ai \ oi'klown. Admiral Greaves, \vith a British lleet, appeared otV the 
(.'alu'S, and an action succeeded, but it uas not decisive. G(Mieral 
Washington had, before this time, moved (he main bod}- of his army, 
'ogether with the French troops, to the southward ; and, as soon as he 
heard of (he arrival of th.e French lleet in (he Chesapeake, he made 
rapid marches (o the head of the Elk, where embarking-, the (roops 
soon arrived at Yorklown. A close siege imnsediately commenced, 
and was carried on with sucli vijjour by (he combined forces of Amer- 
ica and France, that kjvd.Corinvaliis was obliged to surrender. This 
glorious event, which (ook place on (he 19(ti of October, l,7t;i, de- 
cided (he con(est in favour of America, ami laid (he foundation of a 
general peace. A few monUis after (he surrender of Cornwailis, tlie 
British evacuated all their posts in South Carolina and Georgia, and 
retired (o the main army in New- York. 

47, llie next spring (1,782) sir Guy Carlton arrived in New-York, 
and took cominand of the British army in America. Immediately 
after his arrival, he acquainted g:eneral ^Vashington and congress, tliat 
negotiations tor a peace liad bee n commenced at Paris. On the 30(h 
of November, 1,7»2, the provisional articles of peace were signed at 
I'aris, by which Gicat Britain acknowledged che independence and 
sovereignty of (he United States of America, 

48. Thus ended a U-ng and arduous conllict, in which Great Britain 
exi)ended near a huiiihed millions ot' money, with a bundled (housand 
lives, and won nodiing. America endured every cruelty and distre.->s 
fiom her enemies ; lost many lives, and much treasure — but delivered 
herself from a foreign dominion, and gained a rank among the nations 
of the earth. 



SECTION V. 

F.STAP.LISIIMENT OF THE STATE AND NATIONAL GOVERN- 
MENTS. WARS WITH TRIPOLI AND THE INDIANS, &,c. 

1. TiiR iuiportant revohjtion, as regarding the dependance of llie 
olonii-s on Great Britain, reqnire(l a correspundine alteration in iheh 
govenimei.ts. Conventions were assembled in tlie several states, 
which formed new constitutions, agreeably to (he strictest prmciples 
of republicanism ; retaining \vhateve!' was desirable in (he original 
!i:Mi(u(ions, and at (he same time pnwiding additi<;na! securily against 
tyianny or conuiition. The s(a(u(e and coiriinon laws of Fnglaiul, 
lormerl}' olj^^erved in (he provincial courts of jusdce, remain in prac- 
tice as before. The inestimable pri\ ilege, of British origin, a trial 
by juiy ; the freedom of the press, with the additional right, in case 
of prosecuting for a libel, of giving the truth in evidence ; are de- 



UNITED STATES. 449 

cTarc'l to be fundamental principles. The g-overnments resemblf;. in 
their prnicipal oi^anizdtiori, tiie frame of the new federal constitution ; 
they consist of three brandies — a p:overiior, a ?enate, and a lower 
hou^e of repre-sentative-s. The elections leciir tVeqiiently, in which, 
in mo.st of the states, e\ery freeman has a right to p:iitici[)ate. 

2. As yet t!ie genemi government was not eslai^Iishod on a soli I 
foundation. The. artic'es of union, Ibrmed under the prcs-ure of com- 
mon danger, were founrt inadequate to the etlicient management of the 
same country in the sellisli periods o-f peace and security. ' No ciTicirnt 
fund bad been provided to pay tlie interest of the national debt, and 
the public securities tell to one tenth of their nominal value. An open 
resistance to tiie government was made in Massachusetts, headed by a 
person of the name of Shays. Danger increased, and the friends' of 
rational liberty became alarmed. 

3. The Virginia legislature, in 1,7^7, in accorflar.ce with a motion 
made by .lames Madison, made a proposal to the other stales to meet 
in convention lor the purpose of digesting a system of governnn-nl 
ecpjal to the exigencies of (be union. The convention n;et at Pliila- 
delphia, May 25, 1,7JJ7, and chose general Wa-hinir'or, prc-iderit ; 
and, af'er deliberating with closed doors until the 17ll, of iinpn-nuxT, 
agreed on a new plan of national government : this was aft«->wanls 
ratified by the several st:.tes. 'J'his I'.ew con.-tilulion not only fixes the 
national government on a republican basis, but guaranties to each state 
of the family a republican form of government, anil binds the whole 
to i)rotecl each against fortign invasion or domestic violence. Gtn- 
eral Washington was unanimously chosen first presideii! under the new 
constitution. March 4, 1,789, the first congress under the new consti- 
tution assembled at New- York ; and, in 1,790, duties were levied on 
imported merchandise, to replenish an empt}^ treasury. The peblic 
debt incurred during the leNolutionarj' war was liiiuled, aiul bioii:;!il 
at once to its par value. A national i)ank was ealr.blislied, not how- 
ever without opposition. An excise duty laid on domestic spirits. {)ro- 
duced an insurrection in the we«<ern part of Pennsylvania ; l)ut the 
laws were executeil, and on the intervention of an aVmed tbrre, tiaii- 
quillity was restored without blood.>hed. 

4. Two new states were admitted into the confedcrncy. viz. : \er- 
mont in 1.791, and Kentucky in 1,792. A war with the Cieek India. ,s, 
whose fighting men a^mounted to about six hundred, some tinu- existed 
on the frontie-r of Georgia : peace, however, was r«'-lo!ed there in 
1,790. A sanguinary waifiie, with various success, was t'.r voive im'e 
kept up with the north-western Indian?'. In 1,791. geneial llaiiiiai 
was defeated, in the Ohio country, \vith the loss of liiree bundled ; i.d 
sixty men killed. Gen(;ral St. Clair, at the Iiead of two thoiis.uul 
militia and regulars, was subsequently worsted, near the Indian vil!; <ie.- 
on the iMiaini, with the loss of thirty-eight olTicers. and lu^'l^!y sIk 
hundred private.-. St. Clair Avas succeeded by geiir'ial Wayne, wiio 
completely touted tlu; savage foe, and drove the Indiins oni of ih.e 
country. In the year after, Wayne negotiated i s;i.i,;,ti.ioi v iif.'O' 
of peace with the hostile Indians ; and at this lime coniniei.tei! a 
liuinane syste-n 'or ameliorating their condition. 

5. W:.ilst the Uni/ed States Wf.ve emf)Ioyed in quf.lling the iclVac- 
tory, and restraining the inroads of a su!)t!(; enemy vmUihi iln-ir ow > 
bosom, new sources of difficulty discoveied tliem>(i\es in the great 
convul.-ions of Europe. The French revolution had commenced, and 
that nation was under the wild misrule of its directory. Claims ibr 
assistance were made on the United States. Genet, the French tnvoy, 

Pp2 57 



450 UNITED STATE?. 

havin;^ arrived at Charleston, undertook to authorize the annir.g of 
vessels ill that port, and the eiilinting of men ; giving conimissioiw, in 
tlie nnine ol' the French government, to cruise at sea, and commit hos- 
lihties on land, against nations with v«hotn the Ihiited States were ai 
peace. TJie British minister remonstrated. The president i.-sued 
orders lor defeating the \inwariantab!e interference of the Fier.eh :uii- 
bassador. Genet tlu-eatened an appeal to tlie people, ^but was soon 
alter recalled. Afterwards, the French directory authorized the in- 
discriminate capture of all vessels sailing under tlie ilag of the United 
States ; and ordered the Amerjcan emoys to leave France. Tmo 
severe actions occurred in the \Vost Indies, between the American 
fiigate Constellation, of thirty-eight guns, and the French frigate 
l-Mnsui«ente, of forty, and the same frigate and the La Vengeance, of 
fifty guns, in which L'Insurgenle was captured, and La Vengeance 
worsted. 

6. In 1,797, John Adams was chosen president; and in the 3-ear 
ailar, Washington was called to the head of the army, in the prospect 
of a protracted war with France. But speedily after the overthrow 
of the directory go^•ernment, all the disputes between France and the 
United Stales were amicably arranged. 

7. Although, since the definitive treaty of Paris, there occurred no 
open hostilities between England and the United States, yet they were 
far from being on terms of amity and conciliation. On various pre- 
texts, the English retained possession of the forts on the south side of 
the lakes, tbrming the northern houndary of the United States ; and 
irritation was continually excited by the English in.sisting on the right 
of searching American ships for enemy's property. Mr. Jay was de- 
puted envoy to London, aiid negotiated a treaty, in 1,795, which set- 
tled the diOisrences between tlie two nations, but the terms of which 
were much opposed in the United States, 

8. December 14, 1.799, died the illustiiuus Washington, of an in- 
flammatory snre throat and fever, contrac1(>d iiom a slight exposure lo 
the wet weather, after an illness of only about tweiity-lbur hours. 

9. The seat of government had been removed from New- York lo 
Philadelphia, both of ^vliich places being deemed inconvenient, pro- 
vision u'as made, at the second session after the formation of govern- 
ment, tiir the removal of the goveruRient to a district on the Potomac, 
which was ceded to the United States by Virginia and Maryland ; and, 
in 1,800, the public offices were removed to the infant capital, on 
which magnificent buildings had been erected. This city bears the 
name of Washington, and the district that of Columbia, 

10. The war with Tripoli connncnced in 1,801, by an engagement 
of the Enterprise, captain Sterrett, with a Tripolitaii corsair, olf Malta, 
in which the American was victorious. Commodore Murray, the 
fi)!lo\vir.g 3-ear, in the fiigate Constellation, was attacked, while cruis- 
mg olT Tiiv!o!i, by a ibrmidable number of gun boats, but obliged 
(hem to retire in contu'-ion, Jn 1,003, the Philadelphia frigate, cap- 
Jain Hainiiridge, ran upon a rock, in the very jaws of the piia1(s; waf 
t.biiged to strike, and lier officers and crew, amounting to three hun- 
dred, were made pri^:oneis. This vessel was, however, recnjs'ured 
and burnt, while lying in tii(: harbour of Tripoli, Februar}' Ifi, l,8i;4, 
b}- captain Stephen Di.'catur, jr,, and seventy- liK-n — one of the most 
(hiring anil gallant exploits on record. From the '3d to the 29th of 
Augu-t following, commodore Preble made three general atlaeics upon 
tliG Tripolitan "batteries, Ttie barbarian enemy continued lo treat 
tiio American prisoners with the most atrocious cruelty. Another 



UNITED STATES. 451 

expedient vvns tried by the American government. General Eaton 
tvas despatched to co-operate witli Hamet, who had been driven from 
the gnveriiiiient of Tripoli Ity the iisurpatiun of his brotlier. Travel- 
ling lo Egypt, he found the exile, and proceeding lit'ty-two days 
thmiigh a hideous desert, he arrived before Denie, a city in the 
rcgfiMcy of Tripoli, and carried the town at the point of the bayonet. 
Twice did the enemy attempt to retake the town ; but, against feartui 
odds, they were repulsed by Eaton. This brought the reigning 
bashaw to terms ; a peace was concluded by colonel Lear, and tiie 
prisoners long detained in captivity, were released. 

11. Tennessee in 1,796, and Ohio in 1,800, were added to the states 
of tiie unjoii. In 1,803, Louisiana was purchased trom the French 
government, for the sum of tifteen millions of dollars ; and in 1,812, a 
portion of this extended territory v.as erected into a state by that name. 
J}y this cession, tl:e United States have acquired a territory of vast 
inr.a^nitude, and extraordinaiy fertility, from which new states will 
continue to be incorporated. 

12. In the autumn of 1,806, Aaron Burr was detected in an enter- 
prise of great moment, the separation of the western states from the 
union, and the subjugation of New-Orleans : his plan was defeated by 
the vigilance of the government ; Burr was anested on a chai-tjC of 
high treason — but no overt act being proved on him, he was released. 



SECTION VI. 

WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN, &c. 

1. We come now to treat of those interesting events which brought 
on a second contest between Great Britain and the United States. 
The custom of searching American vessels on the ocean, and impress- 
ing from them British seamen, had long been practised by the English. 
But hitherto the custom had been confined to private vessels : now, it 
was extended in some instances to public armed vessels. Four seamen, 
desertei-s from the Briti>h navy, were reported to have entered the 
service of the United States, and to have been received on board the 
frigate C'hesapeake, at the time lying at Hampton roads, preparing for 
the Mediterranean. Admiral Berkeley ordered captain Humphries, 
of the Leopard, to follow the Chesapeake beyond the waters of the 
United States, and demnnd the deserters : this he did, and, afte: 
demanding the seamen, iiicd a broadside upon the American frigate. 
This unexpected attack so disconcerted captain Barron, that he im- 
;tiedialely struck the colours of the Chesapeake, and permitted the 
foiii scnmen to be taken without resistance. The Leopard carried 
(illy, the Chesapeake only thirty-six gut>s. On board the latter, four 
men were killed and sixteen wounded. One of the impressed seamen 
w;is altcrwards hanged, and one died in prison : and there was reason 
for suppo-ing that three of them were native Americans. Captain 
liarroii, lor neglect of duty, was suspended from connnand for five 
ye.Ks. Th!s tingical occurrence produced a general indignation, 
/'he Hrilisli, however, disavowed admiral Berkeley's orders, and re- 
moved him trom the station, but soon after appointed him to a more 
impurt'iiit one. 

2. New systems of blockade were invented by the belligerenfsj 
commencing with the French decree of Berlin, of Novemoer 21, 



452 UNITED STATES. 

1.80C) : Januai7 7, 1,807, came the British order prchibiting coastiiif 
(rade; Novfciiiber 11, the celel)rated British orders in council; and 
December 7, the Frencii Milan decree. December 22, of the sanie 
year, congress, on the recomii^ind.ilion of Mr. .'etTerson, (lien fjiesi- 
dent, orde^i-ed an embai^g-o, prohibitiiiq: the exportaiion ot ever/ arficle 
i"iom the United Stater." ftiarch 4. 1,K09, the embaigo \va.« renxivfd, 
and non-intercourse substittited. April 19, an arrangement was made 
rtith Mr. Eiskit.e, which induced the American goveiiiment to n-new 
(he trade with England ; this arrangement was subsequently disaNow- 
td by the British government. Tiie insulting deportment of the suc- 
ceeding negotiate;', Mr. Jackson, heightened thi; resentnwnt of the 
republic ; and a rencounter between the American and British ships 
of war. President and Little Belt, increased the uiifi ieiidly sentiments 
of Ei;srland. 

3. Mr. Foster, a new British minister, ofl'ered honourable reparation 
(ar the indignity on the Chesapeake ; but no change could be procur- 
ed in die systems practised by Great Britain and France against 
American trade. 'J'he United States now offered to either of the 
belligerents, or both, as soon as they ceased to violate the nciiti.il 
commerce of the republic, that the non-intercourse arrangement 
shoeld be discontinued. The French artfully embraced the oiTt r, ijy 
information that the French Berlin and Milan deciees had been re- 
voked ; and non-iniercourse with France was discontinued by procla- 
mation ol the president. 

4. War was declared by the United States against Great Britain. 
June 18, 1,812, too late to avail themselves of the retraction of the 
British orders in council, which followed the repeal of the Berlin and 
Milan decrees. The congress voted an addition to the regular ainiy, 
of twenty-five thousand men ; authorized a loan of eleven millions; 
and nearly d(jubled the duties on imports. 

5. Previous to the declaration of war, indications of hostility had 
appeared among the Indians on the tVontiers bordering on Canada. 
A body of troops, under governor Harrison, was attacked on the 7th 
of* November, 1,811, near a brar.ch of ll)e AVabash, by a laiger boiiy 
iiC Indians, who were defeated, not wiUioul considerable loss to the 
Americans. , 

6. On the 12th of July, general Hull, governor of the Miclrt^nn 
territory, crossed from Detroit into the province of Canada, witli a 
considerable force. In this situation, he soon received intelligence of 
the capture of the American post at iilichillimackinac. On the 8lh 
of August, he returned to Detroit, followed by the British geneial 
Brock", with his regulars and Indians ; and he soon surrendered to the 
British, not only his army, but included the whole teiritory of Michi- 
gan in the articles of capitulation. He was afterwards tried, and 
found guilty of cowardice andi neglect of duty, and sentenced to be 
shot : bu*, in consideration of his revolutionary services, and his age, 
the court recommended him to mercy, and (he president withdrew The 
punishment of death. He has since endeavoured, by letters address- 
ed to the people of this country, to justify his conduct ; and witlj many 
persons his endeavours have been succe^-lul. 

7. On the 19th of August, the Constitution fiigate, captain Hull» 
captured the B;itisli frigate Gueniere, captain Dacres, after an action 
of thirty minutes : loss of the Gueniere, fifteen killed, sixty-four 
wounded, and twenty-one missing — that of the Constitution, seven 
killed and seven wounded. October 25, the frigate United States,, 
captain Decahir, met the Britidi frigate Macedonian, ofi' the western > 



UNITED STATES. 4&3 

islef5i and captured her after an action of one hour and a iialf :Biitifsh 
loss, t!iirly-six killed and sivl3'-ei5:ht wounded — American loss, seven 
killed, five woundeil. The next nava! aciiievein(;nt was the capture 
ol' llie Britisii brig' Frolic by the American sloop Wasp, coiiiinanded 
bj' captain Jones : Bri'ish Joss, thirty kiHed and fitly wounded — ■ 
American, five killed, five wounded. In Ueceiiiher, tiie Constitution, 
captain Bainbridg'e, ag'ain met the enemy, and the iVi^ate Java was 
ciiplured : Brilisli loss, sixty killed, and one hundred and one wound- 
ed — American, nine killed, twenty-five wounded. Besides these vic- 
tories of public ships, numerous privateers svvarn)ed the ocean, and 
before the meetings of congress, in November, nearly two hundred and 
fifty vessels were captured from the enemy. 

H. In November, general V^^n Rensselaer, with about one thousand 
troops, crossed the Niagara river into Upper Canada, and attacked 
the British r.t Queenstown ; and, after an obstinate engagement, was 
oi)!iged to surrerjder, with a loss of sixt}^ killed, and about one hundred 
wounded. In this engagement the British general Brock was killed. 

9. Eaily In l,fir3,an action was fought at the river Raisin, between 
an American detachment, under general Winchester, and a British and 
ijidian force under colonel Proctor. The Americans were defeated, and 
the greater part of five hundred prisoners were immediately massacred, 
Proctor being unable or unwilling to protect them, as he had expressly 
stipulated ! Soon after, general Harrison was attacked and besieged, 
by the combined British and Indians at tort Aleigs. A desultory >var 
uas kept up for some time. Colonel Dudley was detached from the 
fort, to attack the eiKuny's battery on the opposite side of the river.. 
He succeeded in capturing" the batteiy, but iiis troops, imprudently 
pursuii^g the enemy, were soon surrounded by an Indian army, three 
limes their number, headed by the Indian general Tecumseh ; a des- 
]K!Mte fight, and a scene of slaughter almost as terrible as that at 

j Kaisiii, ensued. Of eight lumdred men composing the detachment, 

1 only about one hundred and fifty escaped. 

j 10. On the 21st of February, the British attacked Ogdensburgh, on 

j tlie river St. Lawrence, with a force of twelve hundred, and compelled 
the Americans to evacuate the place. In April, the Americans, under 
general Fik'e, landed at York, in Upper Canada : and, after some se- 
vere fighting, succeeded in capturing or destroying a large amount ot 
pulilic stores. Tlie British lost seven hundred and fifty men, in killed, 
w( inded, and captured. The brave Pike was mortally wounded, by 
111 r! explosion of a magazine, which had been purposely set on fire. 
Tiie object of the expedition being gained, the American forces evac- 
uated York on the 1st of I^Iay, and re-embarked. 

11. Fort George, commanded by general Vincent, was taken by 
th.e American (brt es, under general Boyd and colonel Miller, May 27 

t'ter a sharp conflict. Thc'^British lost, in killed and wounded, about 
tv\o liunilred and fifty men, besides si:; ismMiicd prisoners — their an- 
onist-, thirty-nine killed and one h;iii;i!!ii ;in(l eight wounded. 
>n ;dlerwar(ls, generals Chandler and Winder, wJio had advanced 
li a considerable force, were attacked in the night, by general 
X'incent, who had been reinforced, between fort George and Burling- 
ton bay, and, in a scene of confi;sion, v.vre both made prisoners ; ihcii 
troop.- retired to foil George. 

12. Captain Jame.- Lawrence, of the Hornet, fell in with, and cap- 
lured, ilie British sioop of war Peacock, February 24. The aclioii 
Jasted eirhi mnrutes ; and the British captain and several others were 
kille*], and twenty-nine wounded— the Hornet had three wounde4f 



464 UiMTED STATES. 

The Peacock sunk soon after the action, and thirteen British sailors 
went down witli her. Captain Lawrence \\as ai'terwards appointed to 
the command of liie ill-ffled Chesapeake, then lying- in Boston harliour. 
The Britisii frig-ate Shannon, commanded hy cajitain Brol<e, liad been 
for some time in the bay, seekir.?: an eng-ai>;;'nient ^\ ith an American 
frigate. Lawrence, burnir.g vvitli impatience to meet tlie eiiemy, did 
not wait to inqnire into the relative ctnidition of the \essels, ' I'he 
Shannon had a picked crew, and was accoutred for the express pur- 
pose of engaging an American frigate of the lai-gest size. Tlie Ciits- 
apeake, not of die hirgest description of frigates, had recently dis- 
chaiged .a part of her crew, and enlisted others : several of her ofiiceri? 
ueiv si(-(<. Lawrence sailed on the fir'^t of June ; and wiien he cm e 
widiin sight of the Shannon, addressed his crew, but they listened wiih 
n(> enlliusiasni : some complained that they had not received their 
prize Jiioney — murmurs and dissatisfaction were general ; in frrt tbe 
erew -i\t-fe almost in a state of mutiny. The Chesapeake closed witli 
ilie enemy and gave the first broadside ; and at the first iiie of the 
Sbannon, captain Lawrence v.-as mortally wounded. A sec(jnd anr! a 
third bi'oadside gave the Britisli a decided advantage, which was fol- 
lowed up by boarding the Chfsapeake. A scene of carnage ensued ; 
captain Lawrence was carried hehnv, exclaiming, as he lett the deck, 
" bon't give up the siiip." Every oflicer qualified for command in 
ibe Chesapeake, was either killed or disabled : about eiglity weie 
killed, and as many wounded. Of the British, twenty-three weie 
ki'led and 'i'''y-six wounded. The captured frigate was carried in 
tiMunpli to Halifax. The brilliant achievements of Wellington rnd 
Ne!son scarcely called forth more lively expressions (>f exuitati-j-" ='^ 
r,'!g!.'ind, than did the capture of the Chesapeake. Tiie tower guns 
c) London were filed on reception of the news, and tlic prince regent 
cotilerred on captain Broke tlie order of knighthood. 

1'3. On the 4th of 7\ugust, tlie American sloop of war Argus wrs 
captured by the Pelican, a vessel of licr own cl.-iss, but said to be two 
euns superior. Captain Allen, commander of tlio Argus, was n*oi(;;l'y 
».(.undefl at tlie first broadside of the enemy. In the following int)r;lh, 
ihe American brig Enterprize captured ilie Boxer, a vessel superior 
in tl^eclive torre. The only pei-^on killed en b'oai'd the Enteipiize 
ivas her gallant commander, lieutenant Burroughs, and thiiteen \\eie 
wounded, 'llw British loss was greater : among tlie slain wns capl.dii 
Bl-ythe, who commanded the Boxer, and nho was buried by the side 
of his antagonist in the town of Portland, oil" whose harbour the actioa 
was fousrht. 

-' 14. But the most briliinnt acliievement this year was that of thf 
yoiitht'ul Periy on lake Erie. The Briti^h force consisted of six ves- 
sels, tiaving sixiy-three guns ; tliat of the Americans, of nine vessels 
and fifly-six guns. The conihct was tremendous. The flag ship ot 
Perry suffered dreadfully in Ib.e loss of men, and was on the point of 
sii kii'g : he left the ship in the nn'dst of the hottest fire, and proceed 
ed to another vessel ; and'after three hours conflict, the laurel ot 
victory was assigned to Perry ; the triuni[)h was complete — not a singU 
le-se! of the enemy escaped. This pctien took jilnce on d'c U'di of 
^'-ptember, and made the Americans inasleis of the hike. The gallaiii 
I I !iy annouiK ed this viclory in the folioAving laconic epi-t!e to gerieral 
Hanisoii : *" We liave met the enemy and they are ours — two ^hip^. 
t«o briirs, one schooner, and -one s!oo]\'" 

15. Cluesapeake bay was blockaded by the British duiing tke spring 
of lliis year, and several predatory uicursions by their troops were 



UNITED STATES. 455 

Wiade. M4jch property was plundered and destroyed, and many dig- 
praceful scenes occurred, particuliuly at Hampton and Havre dr- 
(irace. 

16. An attack uas made, May 29, on Sackett's harbour by about one 
thousand l>riti'<li, who were repulsed willi considerable loss. General 
Brown comnianded the American, and sir Georg;e Prevost the British 
iroops. About the same lime the British attacked Craney Isjarul, 
Tiear iS'orfolk, and were defeated with loss. 

M. General Dearborn, the American commander, retired from ser- 
vice this year. Fort Sandusky u'as invested by a large tbrce of British 
8iil Indians : and ilie e\'p!<iit uf niajor Croghan in repulsing: the assiil- 
aiits with great loss, called iorlh aenera! admiration. In October, 
Detroit was abandoiKfd by the Biitisli, on the approach of a large 
army under general liarri.-Vn ; who, soon after, detiealed the enemy 
under the cOiiimand of general Proctor, in Upper Canada ; in this 
battle the celebrated 'J'ecumseh was killed. 

1!3. Little was done this year towards tlis conquest of Canada. 
General Wilkinson descended the St. l^a\'. rence bom lake Ontario in 
.NOvemlier ; and an engageineiU took place at Williamsburgh, in 
which the Americans were repulsed with the loss of three hundred 
killed, wounde'l. and prisoners. A disagreement between the generals 
Hampton and VVilkinson, i)revented that concert which was necessarj' 
to secure success ; the design of attacking Montreal was relinquished, 
and the army retired to wintei' quarters. Fort George was evacu;.t(;d 
in the month of December ; and misconceiving liis instructions, genera! 
M'Ciure, who commanded the fortress, set hre to the village of New- 
ark. Niagara was afterwards surprised and retaken by the fJritish.— 
The British crossedover to the American side, and in resentment tor tlie 
destruction of Newark, burnt Buffalo and some other villages, aiid laid 
waste the whole frontier. 

ly. The Creek Indians, who had been for some time in open hos- 
tilities with the United States, weie completely subdued this season 
and the succeeding spring, principally by tioops commanded l)y gen^ 
r.ral Andrew .Jackson. 

20. In January, l,tn4, propositions having been made by the prince 
regent t()r a negotiation, IVIessrs. Hussell nud Clay were appointed to 
join Messrs. Adams, Bayard, and Gallatin, already in Europe, as 
conunissioners to meet such as the British government might ai)]H)int; 
and Messrs. Gambler, Golbourn, and William Adams were appointed 
to meet them. The place of assembling was first fixed at Gottenburg, 
but aftei wards changed to Ghent in Flanders ; where the conmiissi("n-. 
ers met in August. 

21. 'J'he frigate Essex, captain David Porter, after having long 
.cruised in the P;;ciiic and captured a great number of British vessels, 
iv,is herself captured in tlie harbour of Valparaiso, by the Biitisn 
irigate Phebe and the sloop Cherub. The Peacock captured the 
British brig Epervier, April 29, after an action of Ibrty-two minutes. 
The Hornet sloop of war captured the English national brig Pengum; 
and the old Constitution, under captain Stewart, overcame the united 
Tories of the Cyane and Levant. 

22. In the beginning of July, fort Erie was taken by the Americans. 
On the 4th of July, a brilliant victory was gained by general Brown 
it Chippewa. On the 25lh, one of the most sanguinary battles on rec- 
ord took place at Bridgewater : in thi- action the American generals 
<Scott, Uiplej', and Porter, with colonel Miller, majors Hindman, Jes- 
SU1», Leavenworth, and M'Neil. distinguished themselves. The 



456 UNTTED STATES. 

British forces were led by generals Drumir.oncl and Rial. The I'.tfle 
lasted from lour o'clock,"?. M. until nudniiiht. The IJrilish lost nine 
hundred, killed, wounded, and prisonris : the Amejican loss was less 
I'he latter maintained tht-ir ground ; while the former retired. 

23. The town of Eastport in the hay of Passaniaquoddy, v\as this 
year (aken hy a British naval force; and soon alter the British took 
possession of Castine and all thai part of the new siate o!" Maine, iyiuEf 
between that place and Penobscot riv<;r, and compelled many of the 
inhabitants to take the oath ol allei^iance to Great Britain. The 
British this year landed marauding jjarties, at Saybrook. Wareliam, 
Sciluate, and other places, and destroyed muci) shipping- : in an at- 
tempt on Stonington, they were beaten "off by the gaiiant inhabitai.ts 
uith loss. 

24. From the Ifitli to the 20lh of August, about sixty sail ol the 
British arrived in the Chesapeake, intending to invade tiie States in 
earnest. More than fifty of them landed at Benedict, on the Fafu-xent, 
about forty miles froni' Washington. On the '22d the British il, iik( is 
reached Wood Yard, fourteen miles from Vv' ash inglon. Commodoie 
Barney here blew up a tlotiila of gun boats to prevent their Jailing into 
Ihe hands of the enemv. On the 2-3d the British forces, estimated at 
six thousand, reached Bladensbuigh, about six miles tVom Washington. 
Here a short engagement took" place ; but the greater part of the 
American militia fled. Commodore Barney, will) a few eighteen 

i)ounders and about (bur hundred men, made a gallant resistance from 
lladensburg to the city ; but he ^vas -wounded and taken prisoner, 
'j^he British here destroyed tiie capitoi, the president*? house, and 
several other public buildings, mutilated the nionnmeiit in the navy 
yard, and committed many excesses. In the night of the 251h, tne- 
oritish retired, gained their shi])ping by rapid marches, and embark- 
ed on board their ships on the 27th. Several British slnps under cap- 
tain Gordon, at the same time, ascended the Potomac, appeared !;e- 
tbre Alexandria, robbed the defenceless inhabitants of a -»-ast quantity 
of flour and other plunder; and escaped down the river without mo- 
lestation. 

25. August 14, General Drummond was repulsed in an attack on 
fort Erie, after a severe conflict, with a loss of five hundred and eighty; 
two in killed, wounded, and prisoners, two hundred and twenty-one 
being killed ; American loss in killed and wounded, two hundied and 
forty-five. 

26. On Sunday, the 11th of September, admiral Cochrane appeared 
off Baltimore with about fifty sail. The larger vessels lantled at 
North Point, ten miles from the city, about sevcii- thousand trooprr 
under general Boss and admiral Cockinnn. The next dr!y, as they 
advanced to-wards the city, they were met by general Strieker willi 
about three thousand militia, and a severe engagement look jilaeo, in 
which the British general was killed. The Americans were houovej 
repulsed by superior numbers ; and on Tuesday evening, the Biilish 
advanced to within about two'n.iles of the American entrenchn^ent^. 
But so strong was the American force, and so valiantly had they fought 
the preceding day, that the British retreated before morning, and 
hastily re-embarked. A grand attack vras made on Tuesday on fort 
M'Henry, on the oUier siile of the city and commanding the water 
passage to it, from frigates, bomb, and rocket vessels, whicli lasted (he 
whole day and a part of the night, doing but little damage. In the 
/light about a thousand of the enemy landed between the fort and the 
city, but were soon repulsed. The loss of the Americans in killed, 



UNITED STATES. 457 

WJOUncled, atid prisoners, was two hundred and thirteen : that of the 
liritish is not known. Tfie enemy, thus discomfited, moved down the 
bay. 

87. The governor-general of Canada, sir George Prevost, with 
from twelve to fourteen tlioiisnnd men, I'Tade an attack on Plattsburgh, 



September 11. At. the samaiinie a naval engagenirnt, on lake Cham 
in sight of ' " " ' 
ty-six guns and eig 
conrunanded by captain M'Donough ; the British, consisting of ninety- 



Klain, took place in sight oT the land forces. The American fleet 
aving eighty-six guns and eight hundred and twenty-six men, was 



live guns and one thousand and fifty men, was commanded by com- 
modore Downie. The action ended in the surrender of the British 
vessels, viz. one frigate, one ijiig, and two sloops of war. Some of 
their gallies were sunk ; others escaped. American loss, fiily-two 
killed, fifty-eight wounded : British loss, eighty-four killed, one 
nundred and ten wounded. At the same lime that the fleets were 
engaged, governor Pre\ost attacked the forts at Plattsburgh with his 
land forces, throwing shells, l>alls, and rockets : he attempted to cross 
the Saranac, but was repulsed at three different place?. So eflisctual 
was the fire of the Americans, that, before sunset, the batteries he had 
erected were all silenced; and at nine o'clock in the evening his 
whcile army began a rapid retreat, leaving many wounded, and much 
ammunition, provision, and baggage. The American loss this day, 
and in skirmishes previous on land, was thirty-nme killed, sixty-twO' 
ivounded, and twenty missing: the loss of the British, in killed» 
wounded, and deserters, besides those on hoard the fleet, was estimat- 
ed rit Iv.o thousand five hundred. General Alexander Macomb com- 
manded the American land forces. • 

28. As on Eric and Cliamplain, so on the lake Orifario, each party 
strove for a naval ascendimcy. Several large ships were built by the 
Americans at Sackett's harbour, and bj' the British at Kingston. The 
American fleet "was commanded b}' captain Chauncey, and the British 
by commodore Yeo. As at no lime, one side equalled the other in 
strength, so at all times one avoided as the other sought for an engage- 
ii'ent. A partial action once took place; bi,t the Blitish commander, 
at tiiat time supposing his force inferior, look llie advantng-e of cir- 
cumstances to make his port. One of the British vessels ready for 
sea at the close of the war manned nearly one hundred guns; and two 
of the larg-est class of vessds in the v.orld »vere at the same time 
electing at Sackett's harbour. 

29. In a sortie irom foit Kiie, under the command oi ^-eneral Jacob 
Brown, after a severe engagement, the British were deleated with the 
loss of nearly a thousand, in killed, wounded, and prisoners: (lie 
American losh exceeded Inc hundred. 

■ ^ 30. The frigate President, commodore Decatur, sailed from New- 
\ oi!<, January 14, 1,815, and was (he next day pursued by four frigates 
and a brig of the enemy. An enongomeut took place between the 
foremost of tlie pursuing- vessels, the Kndymioii and the President ; 
.d!er a severe action of two hours, the Endymion was silenced and 
bealcn off. The Pamoiie and Tenedos in one hour coming up, the 
1 'resident was obliged to surrender. 

ol. One of the most splendid events or; the part of the Americans 
closed llie late war: it was the disconitiiiiie and rej'ulse of the British 
:n New-Orleans. A very large Bii4ish force entered lake Pcntchar- 
train, near New-Orleans,' early iu December, 1,!!14, defealintc, after 
..!) oiistinate conflict the smalf American naval ic'ice stationed there 
'I'he British were commanded by general Packenham, one of Welling 
Q.q 58 



45S UNITED STATES, 

ton's irivincibles who had conquered the ffreal Napoleon , the Ahieri-. 
can army was led by genera! Andrew Jackson. Seseral *kinni>he3 
((M)k place, in which tlie British wore alni(>st*ll'.e e.vclnsive «ii(Vfv»-r!*, 
On Sunday mornini;- early, January 8, a grand attack ua.s made iiy 
tla' liritisii on the American iruojis in llicir enlreiK linu-nls. Alter ari 
f-nt^a^enienl of more than an honr, tiie enemy weic cnt lo piece.- In a 
:](•"■!(■(! nhno^t jjeyonii example, and iled in c<>n!"u>i<>n. Ieaviii)>- nn ilie 
iteld ol' !)attle tlieir dead atid wonnde(i. Tlie Briti-li loss uas se\<n 
hundred killed, tdurtei:n hundred wounded, and five hundred prisoiH'r.--: 
the ^enerfds PackenhanV and Keane, were :uTion<i the slain, and fvn- 
era! Cobb was dangerously womided. The American loss was said lo 
be- only seven killed and six wounded! The attack was not renewed, 
and in a sliort time alter, the British left tlie west. 

■J-2. Up to the close of 1,01-1, the British nnnistiy, calculating- fo 
(jriny: tile Americans to llieir terms, had discovered an indispositinn to 
l]i;at with the commissioners of the United Slates ; but the deleat of 
llie British belbre Plaitslnirgjh, gave a new turn to tlie negotiation, and 
a tr^ialy ol" peace was signed at Ghent, December 24, l,ffl4. Bolli 
nations agreed to appoint commissioners to settle disputed boundaries. 
No allusiiMi was made in the treaty to the causes of' the war. Security 
agains* their recurrence rests, liowever, on a much Ihnier basis than 
the provisions of tlie most solemn treaty. Britain has been taught to 
appreciate the strength of the republic. By tli-is war tke public debt 
ui the United Stales was increased a hundred millions of d^)I!ais. 

3,). it would too much extend tliis sketch of the history of the ic- 
puljlic, to trace to its source the origan of parties which have divideti 
ilie cniinlry into two g'reat sections willi difleient appellations. The 
di'itinctKMr was unknown until subsequent lo Mr. Jay's treaty with 
(iieat Brilrtin in 1,793. George Washington was elected jiresident ir. 
i.Ttiii, and re-eiecteil in 1,792. f{e was succeeded Ijy John Adams, 
elected in 1,796, between whom and Tiiomas JetTerson the parties 
divided in 1.800: the latter was chosen at tliat time, not liov\ever 
until he had been balloted for thirty-six limes by die house of reiu-e- 
P<nt;jiives in congress, die vote by states being at each balloting 
equally 'divided between Mr. Jefierson and Aaron Burr. In 1,804. 
i\ir. JelTeinon was re-elected. Declining an election in 1,80}'., Mr. 
Jel'fersoi: gave place to James Madison. The latter continuing eight 
J ears, James Monroe was elected to tlie presidency in 1,816 ; and so 
^eni-ral was the satisfaction with the administratioiK that in 1,820, he 
ii;)il all the elecl-B-al votes save one for the same ofnce. 

'.>4. Since the peace the attention of tiie country has been called to 
the ])ropriety of augmenting the national detijice. Congress having 
maiie :ip|»ropr!<ttions for the purpose, extensive f()rlifications have beer 
aid continue to be erected for the security of Uie comm(,'"cial towns* 
One million of dollars annually is likewise appropriated lor the grad- 
ual augmentation of the navy, lo which, independcnit of smallt-r 
\ easels, niiU! ships of the line, twelve frigates, and three floating batte- 
ries are to I.e added. 

_ 3F>. By an act of congress in the year 1,818, a yearly j^cnsion, sufii- 
ci"i«i l"or their di'cent niamtenance, having been granted lo those oilicers 
and I'livates nho served more than nine months at any one time in die 
w.ir of llie revolution, moiv than thirty tliousand individuals made ap- 
plication for relief. The snm reqinred much excecdeii geiKial cx- 
} e(!:ii!on: and the following year an additional act was |)a.->t;d which 
(jjreuniscrihed the applicants to a narrow space. ImporlatiiUiS iiaving 
fe-sened, die amount received into the treasury iioni duties became 



UNITED STA'lES. 453 

less than tlie calculations ; and in l,f!21. liie standing military force 

was ictliircd tVoni t^i) In six lliLUisand, aiid ilic building ot'.-diipa of war 

U;i-. in -u;iic ilc^'IV-!!', siHji(:nii<'d. 

:Ui - ii 'ii. ;(iiii!.-«i()!i ol Lc'iisiana in 1,r;i2, six olhor «(alt,'8 liaAe 
lit r:i : i ;:;.ii' I 'ilk) the Uiiinn — iiidirtiia in l,f'«16, Missis.'ipjM in l,!il7, 
li.iiM.l^ :.; ! ':n:. Alabama in l,!n9, lAlaine in 1,«.20, and l\!;sM;iiri in 
l.!;2I. IndiiiM ?.w\ Illinois art; sections of the sanu; terrilory (Vein 
wbicli Oiiii) \v,i^ inadi; a rtalc. Mississippi and Alaiiania bcioiiivcd to 
(ii-oriii 1 and l.uiiisi.Tna : Maine \vas separated t"roin Massncliiis(!(.>~, aiif' 
M;>>oinI lVo:n lliu vas'. tract ceded by tlie Freiich, under llie name oi 
Liui'siana. 

:>". A treaty was conclnded at Washington in 1,"19, by which Spain 
ceded to the United Slates that portiofi ot hi;r territory, known by the 
nr^.me ol' Floiida. Five millions ot' dollars was tht?' price ; and the 
strii. Ml pin'>ij nice ot" the treaty, lias been paid as indemnity to .Amer- 
ic.in citizens l()r illeg^a! ^eizuies ol" their property in Spanish ports. 

:iii. ik-siile- tlie (UlFerent state g'overnments, territorial i!;overn:nenls, 
with mj:';'ist rates appointed by the president and senate, exist in 
Michiij^an. Aikansas, and Florida. 

39. In the year I,f;20, the tbnrth anthorized census of the inhaldtar.ts 
was recorded. 'J'he progress of population lias been rapid almost 
be)(ind a parallel. In 1,790, the population was three millions nine 
hundred and twenty-one llirusand : in 1,800, five milliuns three 
hnnlreil and twenty thoiisan I : in 1,P.10, seven millions two hnndrid 
and torty th(ajsa!i(i ; and in 13,20^ nine niilhoiis six hundred and thirly- 
e;?ht tiiousand. 



PART FIFTH. 

SECTION [. 

ADDITIONAL FACTS, BRLNGING DOWN THE GENERAL HIS- 
TORY TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

1. In l,S20,soiiie commotion was caused in France by the assassins, 
lion of the DukeofBeni; nephew of Louis XV^III. and son oftlie 
present king. He was stabbed at the door of tlie opera house by aii 
obscure person named Louvel. It appeared that the assassin was 
instigated to this horrid deed merely by a thirst lor revenging an al- 
leged injury, which he suffered many years previous. 

2. Napoleon Bonaparte died at St. Helena, May 5lh 1,321, aged 52. 
He was a man of talents which few other men are competent to esti- 
mate : of astonishing foresight and intrepidity : of insatiable ambition. 
His career was marked by the most splendid achievements. He was 
destined by Providence to humble the pride of the Princes of the 
earth, to shake the foundations of arbitrary power, and then, to be 
himself humbled and debased. To France he gave a code of laws, 
the influence of which has been felt throughout Europe, and will ex- 
lend through the world. He gave to the lower classes of the commu- 
nity, an activity and importance, which they had never felt ; but which, 
having been once appreciated, they are not likely to surrender. Hi3 
political maxims, however sellish in their ends, were utterly at vari- 
ance with that baser love of arbitrary dominion, which is regardless 
of the welfare of its subjects. He loved to govern ; but his ambition 
made him wish to govern an industrious, enlightened, and happy 
world ; and wherever he extended his conquests, he endeavoured to 

elieve the oppressed, and break the shackles under which hum..nily 
groaned. The efforts which are now making by the lower classes in 
almost eveiy arbitraiy government, to obtain free constitutions which 
shall elevate them from the rank of slaves to that of citizens, are lo 
be ascribed, in a great measure, to the influence of his institutions, and 
his example. We can mark no limits to the blessings which, under 
Heaven, he dispensed while he lived, and bequeathed to posterity. 
If we judge him by the effects of his conquests, his institutions and his 
administration of government, he will appear one of the greatest bene- 
factors of mankind ; but if as Christians, we estimate his character by 
the motives which he manifested throughout his career, we shall find 

ittle in it to applaud, but much to condemn. Although it was a pari 
of his policy to ameliorate the condition of men, a wish to extend and 
lo secuie his own sovereignty over them appears lo have been his 
ruling motive. An all-wise Providence converted his deeds into 
blessings, but they cannot entitle him to the praise of Christian virtue. 
If his rise and reign was all that men call glorious, his do\nffall ex- 
hibited a reverse no less signal. Confined on one of the most barren 
and dismal islands in the world, — guarded and controlled by gaolers, 
wlio exercised towards him a petty tyranny, which denied not unfre- 
quently the common civilities ol lile. — wasted by a long and painful 
disease, — all the circumstances about him combined to mock his for- 
mer greatness, and to witness to an ambitious world that he vtha 
exalleth himself shall be abased. 



ADDITfONAL FACTS, &c. 461 

3. In l,r>23, France obtained penniss.on from the Congress of Allied 

Sovereifcns. IicM nt V^cionn,to invade Spain, and re-establish the king 
in h\< li)rn)er atithoril}-. Il wa.-; expected thai the friends of tiie new 
coiPtilution would have been able to make a powerful resistance to 
thi? invasion ; imt the conquest piovcd easy ; and this revolution, 
like that of 1,820, was acconiiilished with very little bloodshed. On 
the 16th day of Sept. 1,!J24. Louis XVIll. died of the dropsy; his 
biother succe-eded to the tbrone and took tiie title of Chaklks'X. 

4. A revolution sill. ilar in its cliarncter to that in Spain took place 
in rortuu:al in 1,820. In 1,821, the Ko^-al Family, with the exception 
of the Fiince Royal, the king's son, returned from Brazil. The king 
awcre to the free constitution, and the kingdom enjoyed a good de- 
gree of Iranciuillity until May 1,f!2J, ^^hen a countei-revolutio!) was 
conmienct^d, and on the 3d <">f .bme the king issued his proclamation 
anniajMcirig t!ie n.'stoia.tion of the Ancient Monarchy. 

.". In Fngl;.-iid, George IV. succeeded to the thrcjne upon the death 
of his fallit-r George III. He had lur many years been Prince 
lletrcnt. 'i'lii- year was distinguished by domestic connuotioMS, of 
ixhicii the disturbances among the labouring classes in Manchester 
and other manul'acturing towns, were the most alarming. 'J'he al- 
leged cause of complaint was the low price of wages, which was 
declared to be quile disproportionate to their services. Large meet- 
ings were held in man}' places, and very riotous proc(!edings passedj 
.•^nil tii(^ nation was much alarmed b}^ t!:«e prospects oi' a ci\il war 
'J'lie malecontents Ipund ,-everal able leaders, among whom llunl and 
'J'histltwood were pjominent. The 'commotions v.eie, however,^ 
quelled without their objects bcinp; obtained. Himt sutfered a lon^; 
iniiMiso;im<;nt ; Tiiistlewood and tour others were executed, and five 
we 10 transported. 

'■>. J-iut ihi.s year was principally memorable for die trial oi the 
Queen on a charge ofadulteiy. Tins allair produced a remarkable 
degiee of excitement not only tlirougkout that kingdom, but also on 
the continent and in Ameiica. 

7. Since the teiniination of these difiiculties the nation has enjoyed 
tranquillily and a high degree of prosperity. 

'•>. The sunur.er ot' l,f!2l,was remarkable for tiie scantiness of the 
crt)j)s ill Irchmd. The following winter brought a most distressing 
laiiii.ie, ol" which great numbers perished. 

9. Since the establibhment of peace in 1,815, the Northern States 
oi l^lu I oj.'e have enjoyed a good degree of tranquillity. Few events 
ha\e o'curied, to serve as iten>s of general histoiy. By a decree of 
tiie Kniperor cf lliissia in 1,811, the government of that emp'ire was 
declared to he a con^^titutional monarchy. Little was done till aftei 
tlie [)eace to limit its despotic character, but since that perioti some 
constitutional privileges have been granted to the subjects. Similar 
improvements have been made, and are making, in the governments 
ol most ol these States. Prussia has established assemblies, which 
bear a rei)resentative character. 

10. In 1,815, Ihc; Congress of Vienna, composed of the authorities of 
Austria, France, Great-P>ritain, Prussia, and Kussia. made a solemn 
declaration of their resolution to put a stoj) to the African Slave 'J'raile. 
This wicked trallic was not, however, diminished by this mea.sme, be- 
cause France \vas totally unfailhlul to her i)romise. At the Congiess 
ol Verona in l,ii23, the same powers, with the exception of France, 
declared that this crime ought to be assimilated withibat .of i)iracy, 
aud hence punishable with death. 

Qq2 



462 HISTORY OF NEW SPATTT. 

11. In 1,816, the Jesuits were expelled from Moscow and Petera- 
burprli, and in 1,020, iVora the whole Russian empire, and forbidden 
ever to return. 

12. Pope Pius VII. died Aug. 20, 1,823, in the eighty-second year 
of his age, and the twenty-fourth of his pontificate. He was succeed- 
ed by the Cardinal Delia Genga, who assumed the title of Leo XII. 
The present Pope, was born on the 2d of Aug. 1,760. He was Ntin- 
rio fourteen years in the electorates of tlse Rhine. At the i)eriod of 
tie persecutions exercised by Bonaparte against the Catholic Church, 
he was obliged to quit Rome with the other prelates and cardinals- 
At the restoration, he was the cardinal selected by Pius Vll. to 
congratulate Louis XVIli on his return. The commencement af his 
pontificate has been signalized by his refusal to restore the Inquisition 
ui Spain, declaring it inconsistent with the liberal spirit of the age. 

13. in (he summer of 1,820, an insurrection broke out in N:»ples 
and Sit:i!y, and s.o feeble was the established government, Ih-it the 
in-urgf'Mts sunn compelled the king to grant them' a free constitulion. 
'i'iie Allied Sovereigns of Eui ope at their session at Troppau, near the 
cl(:»e of the same year, made a formal declaration of irreconcilable 
hostility to this new government. In 1,821, they decided at the Con- 
e:res> of Laybach, that a iiorlion of the Austrian army should occupy 
Naples, to restore the authority of the king. This was readily ac- 
coiiiplir^hed, and with little opposition. The Spanish constitution ot 
1,812, was granted to Naples and Sicily, and tranquillity was restored 
Similar disturbances took place at the same {)eriod in some of (he 
Sarilinian Slates, but they were quieted by the result of those in Na- 
ples and Sicily. 

14. TuRKF-V has enjoj-ed little tranquillity for many years. The 
Greeks revolted fiom the OHoinaii power in 1,821 ; and from that 
])f riod •() (he present a liloody war has been carried on between them 
and the Turks. The latter have committed frequent and horrible 
massacres of the Christians in Constantinople, Scio, and odier places ; 
and have endeavoured to reduce their revolted subjects by every act 
of cruelty and oppression. The Greeks have maintained their strug- 
gle f"r indepeniience with much bravery and spirit, which lias some- 
times become ferocity ; but they are neither sufiiciently virtuous nor 
civili/ed to act in full concert in resisting oppression. It is impossible 
to judge how far they have been really successful, aixl what are their 
prospects of ultimate success, owing to the want of authentic channels 
(if information ; but at this moment the existing probability is decid- 
edly in favour of their success. 



SECTION SECOND. 
HISTORY OF NEW SPAIN. 

coMPii-En PRi.xciPALr.y from Poinsett's notes on imexico. 

1. Whkn this couritry was first visited by the Spaniards in 1,519,' 
it havi attained a high degree of civilization. Of this Ave may judge 
by the form of its governnient. its laws, and its ci\ii institutions. 

2. The monarch was chosen iVom among the members of tlie reign- 
ing laiT'iiy by six electors, chosen iVom among the thirty princes of 
Itie first rank. The political system was (eudal. The first class of 
nobles, consisting oi thirty familiesj had each one inmdred th(«isand 



HISTORY OF NKW SPAIN. 4C3 

vassals. The second class consisted of more than three thousand 
families. The lords exercised the right of life and death over their 
vassals. Al! tlic lands were divided into allodial, hereditary, and 
contingent estates, — the latter depending upon places in the gift of the 
crown. 

3. The priests were charged Avith the education of youth ; and on 
th'jir testimony of Uie merit of their scholars, depended their future 
raiik. Under Montezuma, the emperor at this period, the governmeni 
was despotic, hut he was subject to the high priest. Each piovince 
was subject lo a trihutej but certain nobles were excepted, who were 
conipelled to lake the field in case of a wai', with a stated number ot 
l&liowers. ']'he tribute vras paid in kind, and was fixed at one thir- 
tieth part of the crop. Ttie governors oi' provinces also vietl with 
each other in the magnificence of their presents to the emperor. 

4. Sacrilege, murder, and treason, were punished with death ; and 
the laws of the empire were generally as much respected as in th<> 
most civilized European nations of that age. The attention of the 
government was principally directed towards the internal commerce, 
so as to secure an abundant supply to the people. Posts were estab- 
lished bet\veen the capital and the remotest provinces. A court of 
len magistrates determined the validity of contracts ; and officers were 
constantly employed to examine the measures and the quality of goods 
exp(jsi;d tor sale. 

5. P)esldes the empire of the Mexicans, of which we have been 
speaking, there were other powerful states, whose form of government 
was republican. The most powerful of these was Tlascala, the gov- 
ernment' of which continued for some time after the coiuiuest of 
Mexico. It was a thickly settled, fertile, and populous country, di- 
vided into districts, each under tlie authority of a chief. These chiefs 
administered justice, levied the ti'ibuie, and commanded the militaty 
forces, but their decrees were not valid, or of fori:e, until confirmed by 
(he senate of Tlascala, which was the true sovereign. A certain num- 
ber of citizens, chosen from the different districts' by popular assem- 
blies, fitnued this legislative body. The senate elected its own chief. 
The laws were strictly and impartially executed ; and the people are 
rcjtresented as numerous, wealthy, and powerful. 

6. The Mexicans possessed some knowledge of Astronomy, and 
their calendar was constructed with more exactness than that "of the 
Greeks, the Romans, or the Egyptians. 'J'heir hieroglyphics, drawings, 
and maps — their cities and artificial roads, causeways, canals, and im- 
mense pyramids — llieir government and.hieraichy, and administration 
of laws — liieir knowledge of the art of mining, and of prepaiing metals 
for ornament and u<(' — their skill in carving images out of the'hardest 
stone — in manufacturing and dying cloths, an<l the perfection of their 
agriculture, aflbrd ample evidence of the hia,h degree of civilizalioii 
attained by the Mexicans. ■ If we recollect tliat at this period, the ait 
of printing was not used jn Europe, — that the Reformation had not 
t.dven r)lace. — that most of the great improvements in arts and science 
are of more modern date, we shall see no reason to call the Mexicans 
barbarous, compai'ed with their proud invaders, or v.ith other nations 
of that period.^ Their religion was disgraced by gross superstition; 
and the sacrifice of human victi.ns was not unfrequent. l^ut, still, 
when compareil with other nations, they were not deficient in practi- 
cal virtue, linked nothing in their character appears to have been 
half so gross and antichristian, as the merciless conduct of their inva- 
ders, We cannot estimate them by the degraded state of the remain- 



464 HISTORY OF NEW SPAIN. 

ing: natives ; for when the country was conquered, its aits, and sciences 
and civil and lelia^ioiis institutions ceased, because those classes in the 
coMununity by \vhoin knowledge was possessed and transmitted, were 
utlerlj' exterminated. 

7. Shortly after the Spaniards under Corfez landed at Vera Cruz, 
he received messeng'ers from Montezuma, bijnt^ing with tHem presents 
to a considerable amount, and entrentiriS; Cortez not to advance far- 
ther into the countiy. But the sis:hl of this display of wealtli stimu- 
lated the cupidity of the Spaniards, and confirmed "their resolution to 
penulr:ife to the capital, lii their route they liad to contend noainst 
the rejpublic of Tiascala, a nation continually at war with (he empire 
of Mexico. Cortez vanquished them iu two battles, and found no 
dilhculty in onlistina: them a;i-ain-t Montezuma. Six thousand Tlasca- 
Inu.s were added, as auxiliaiiis, to his European troops, and he con- 
tinued his march upon the capital of the empire under the Cfiu'se of 
friendship. As he advanced, he continued to augment his forces by 
treaties with other nations and tribes which were inimical fo Monte- 
zuma ; and with a European force of five hundred infu)try aini filteen 
li(ti,semen, and a large army of Indians, he readied the city of Tenoch- 
lillan on the tUh of Nov. 1,519. The emperor received him with a 
deirree of iiiagnilicence that excited the astonishment of the Spaniards. 
Tlie whole army was lodged and entertained sumptuously, and Cortez 
rec(ri\ ed pic:sents to a great amount. 

H. MontezuiTia soon found that by admittmg an armed and power- 
ful friend into his capital, he had delivered him.-elf anil his people 
into the hands of a ferocious enemy. Cortez demanded tliat the 
Mexican general, Qualpopoca, Avho had committed some hostilities on 
(he Cfjlony left at Vera Cruz, should be delivered up to him, bound 
hand and foot, and he caused him to he burnt alive. He next got 
p(W*iossion of the person of the emperor and detained him prisoner. But 
the indignation ot the people was most excited by the contemfil with 
(vhich their religious rites and idols were treated by the Spaniard';. 

9. Cortez was now compelled to leave the force at Tenochtitlan 
.■he capital, in thecommatul of Alvarado, and march against Narvaez 
ftho had arrived ou the coast to deprive him of his command. Having 
ranquistied Narvaez and obtained a considerable accession of forcc^ 
he returni^d to'i'enochtitlan, and ibund that the Mexicans had burn! the 
vessels which he had constructed on the Lake, and had just laid siege 
to the building in which the Spai.ir.rds were lodged. The siege was 
prosecuted with vif<-(>ur by the natives, and the place defended with 
ob>tiii:!cy l.-y die Spaniards. Montezuma having ascenderl a terrace 
was killed by i stone or arrow, ami his broth<;r C^uetlavaca proclaimed 
his successor. This gave such vigour to the 3i(!xi(;ans, that the Span- 
laids were obliged to retreat with great loss. At Otumba, Cortez was 
obliged to tuniatul give th(;m battle. Ho was victoTious, and pro- 
te(;dt <1 to Tiascala without further trouble. To secure his asiender;- 
cy o\er thi« repul)ric, he made tVequent incursions into the territories 
of neiffhbourin-r nations, and with imiiorm success. 

10. In Decemlier 1,5'21, he returned to the vale of Tezciico, and 
bom this ))lace continued to carry on the war against the Mexicans 
and their allies. He ordered to be constructed at Tiascala the frames 
ut' thirteen ves-els, and diey were brought by an inunense number of 
Imiians to the Lake Tezcuco. \Vhen tliese vessels were ready, he 
sent for his allies, amounting to fd'ty thousand troops, ^vhosoon arrived. 
Atter a siege of seventy-five days the city was captured, Aug. ISth. 
1.521. The captured Mexicans were divided among the conquerow 



HISTORY OF NEW SPAIN. 465 

•one fiftn being reserved for the king of Spain ; and they continued 
to l*e fieated ns slaves for centuries, notwithstanding tlie humane laws 
pa>>ed in Spain for tlieir lelief. This conquest was completed in the 
reign ot Guatiniozin son of Montezuma, wlio had succeeded to the 
throne after the death of (-i.uetlavaca. 

II. There is little interesting in the history of Mexico from Ihia 
period till the commencement of the Ke'olution in l,f!10. Almost the 
only briirht s])ol in the page of its histoiy during this period, is the 
admin'u>itration of the viceroy Revillagigedo. Good roads, leading 
from tl»e capital lo dilTerent parts of the kingdom, were made \)y his 
orders ; the streets of the principal cities were paved and lighted, 
and good ])olice regulations established. An authentic statistical 
ai.count of th« country was made, and almost every salutary law and 
regulation, now in existence, may he traced to Ins administration. 

\'i.. To understand the nature of the authority which Spain exer- 
cised over her American Colonies, it is necessary to remarn; that all 
acquisitions in America were considered as be!(.nging to the crown, 
rather dian to the state. Pope Alexander Vi. first bestowed them as 
a i'vei: gift, upon Ferdinand and Isabella. They and their successors 
were to be held as the universal proprietors of the regions which had 
been, or should be discovered. All officers in the colonies, whether 
civil or ecclesiastic, were appointed by their authority, and remova- 
ble at their pleasure. The Spanish possessions were, at first, divided 
into two viceroyalties, New Spain and Peru ; but subsequently, a 
third was established at Santa Fe de Bogota, the jurisdiction of which 
pxtendeti ovei' Terra Firma and the province of Q,uito. 

13. Tiie authority of the viceroys was supreme in eveiy depart- 
ment of governnient, civil, military, and criminal. To aid them in the 
administratioti of government in provinces remote from their residence, 
magi.-itrates of various orders were appointed, subject to the viceroy ; 
aii'l courts, called Audiences, were established, whose decisions were, 
in most cases, final. Upon the death of a viceroy without any pro- 
vision of a successor by tJie king, the supreme power was vested in 
the court of Audience resident in the capital of the viceroyalty, and 
the seifwjr judge, assisted by his brethren, exercised ail the functions 
of the viceroy, while the olrice continued vacant. 

14. The supreme government of all the Spanish possessions in 
America was, howevf r, vested in the Council of the Indies. This 
Council was lirst established by Ferdinand in 1,511. Its jurisdiction 
extended to every department, ecclesiastical, civil, militarj-.and com- 
mercial. All laws and ordinances relative to the gov-mment anil 
police of the colonies originated there, and must be approved by two 
thirds of the members, belore being issued in the name of the king. 
To it each person employed in America, from the viceroy downward?, 
was accountable. Beinre it was laid all intelligence public or secret, 
rec-(;ived from the colonies, and every scheme of improviig the ad- 
iniiiislration, police, or commerce, Avas submitted to its considera- 
ti(»n. 

15. Another tribunal was established at Seville in 1,501, called 
Citxci tie la Contratacion, ov the house of trade. It was designerl tc 
i-egulate such commercial affairs as required the immediate and per- 
sonal inspection of those appointed to superintend them. Such i.» aa 
oiitiiiie of the system of government which Spain established in hei 
Aiiieiican colonies. 

16. In 1,808, the viceroy of Mexico, Don Jose Iturrigaray, received 
such contradictory orders from the supreme authorities in Spain, as 

59 



466 HISTORY OF x\EW SPAIN. 

to render it necessary to call a Junta composed of a representative 
from each province. Tliis measure excited the jealousy of the Eu- 
ropeans in the capital, as it uas calculated to place llie Creoles on an 
equal tbotaig with themselvss in liie ^oveniiiicnt. They Ihtferoic 
conspired against the viceroy, surjiiised hini, and sent hjni and lii;- 
family prisoners to Spain. Shortly aOer the arrival of the next vice- 
roy, Vanegas, tlie Creoles formed a conspiracy to overthrow I,'.- 
powcr. They collected a large t'orce under Hidalgo a priest of seme 
distiriction, and for several months their success seen.cd almost cir 
tain. But Hidalgo, by a most unaccountable mismanagement «>uiroied 
bis army to be defeated with great slaughter in Oct. i,t»G9, and iheir 
total defeat followed in January 1,811. 

17. Another attempt was soon made by the Creoles and Indinn- 
under Kayon, a lawyer of great influence, but the revolt vvas sup- 
pressed. A more formidable arm)^ was gathered by Moreios in l.fil-i 
— 15, and the contest for independence again appeared more hcpefiri ; 
but he was defieated, taken prisoner, and executed. In Nov. l,?ilti, 
[he Patriots were cheered by the arrival of Genera! Mina with a small 
force from England. Uniting himself with the army already in ope- 
ration, he sustained the conflict with great bravery Tor one year, but 
was then defeated and executed. The Independent army was noAV 
too feeble for offensive operation, and little was done until the revo- 
lution of Spain in 1,821. The decrees of the Cortez coniiscating tiie 
estates, and reducing and reforming some of the higher orders ot" the 
clergy, excited the indignation of "the church in Mexico, and from 
that time, the priests used their influence in favour of a separation 
from Spain. Although their influence had been somp\vhat diminished, 
it was still sufficient to produce the adoption of almost any measure 
which they should recommend. They were aided by the weallliy 
Europeans who were anxious to preserve the country in the pureiuss 
of despotism, that it might serve as a refuge for the king of Spain 
from the persecutions of the Cortez, and from the new constitution. 

18. Don Augustin Iturbide was fixed upon as a proper agent to 
carry their plans into effect. He had distinguished him.self in the 
previous contests as an enemy to the patriots, and the clergy little an- 
ticipated that his love of tyranny would soon be exercised at the cost 
of their dearest plans. He at this time commanded a considerable 
army, and on receiving money to proceed into the southern provinces, 
he united himself with Guerrero, one of the patriot chiefs, and offered 
pardon to all who would unite themselves to his standard. From the 
very energetic operations of the revolutionists in the capital, the whole 
nation was soon roused in favour of independence. The viceroy was 
deposed ; Iturbide was made admiral of the navy, generalissimo of 
the army, and president of the Regency which w as established by the 
new Junta. His ambitious designs now became manifest, and he iound 
little difficulty in raising himself above the established authoritif s, and 
securing the reins of government. The Cortez were decidedly op- 
posed to him, but the soldiery were his friends, and they compelled 
the Cortez to declare him emperor on the I9lh of May 1,822. After 
having attained this object of his ambition, he sought by every means 
to render his authority absolute, and elevated the members ot his own 
family to offices of state. Many of the clergy were far from being 
satisned with the elevation of Iturbide. The archbis^iop of Mexico 
refused to crown him, and retired trom the capital. 

19. The emperor did not long enjoy his despotic reigri. Santana, 
'he governor of Vera Cruz could not brook the control of a supe- 



HISTORY OF THE WEST INDIES. 46? 

rior. Enj(>ying an independent command, and possessing the confi- 
dence of a great part of the community, he found no difficulty in raising 
a formidahle force. He was soon joined by Guadalupe Victoria, who 
nnd from the commencement of the revolution been a most faithful 
friend to the cause of liberty, but had been o')lis-ed, under the exist- 
ing despotism, to conceal himself in the mountains. Santana found 
that the great popularity of Guadalupe Victoria made it necessary 
to yield to him the supreme command. This bc'ing readily granle I, 
they possessed each others confidence, and the confidence of the em- 
pire. The army in all parts declared for the repubhcan principles 
of Santana, and the commander in chief, and Iturbide found it neces- 
sary first to summon the Cnrtez wliicli he had forcibly dissolved, and 
afterwards, on the eighth of March 1,C23, to a])dicate the throne. He 
was permitted to leave the empire, and he sailed with his family for 
Leghorn on the 11th of May. He returned in the summer of 1,824, 
but was received by republicans who justly appreciated him. An 
order had been passed by the Congress for his immediate execution 
in case of his arrival ; and as soon as he was identified, he was im- 
prisoned, and, a (evf days after, was brought forth by public order 
and shot. 

20. Immediately after his abdication the nation declared for a re- 
publican government, and on the 2d of February 1,824, a federal 
constitution was adopted, amidst the shouts of the people ; and it is 
obviously the form of government best suited to the interests and wishes 
of a majority of the community. The principal defect in their con- 
stitution is the establishment of the Catholic religion. The nation 
cannot expect to enjoy the real freedom of republican institutions, 
while their minds are subjected under the real despotism of a national 
religio?). In other respects the Constitution of this republic very neai>- 
ly resembles that of the United States. 

21. The former Captain-Generalship of Guatimala, with the ex- 
ception of Chiapa, declared its independence at the same time with 
Mexico, but refused to unite with that government. It has establish- 
ed' an independent, federal govertmicnt, under the title of the Confed- 
erated States of the Centre of America. The Roman Catholic religion 
i.s established here also,, to the exclusion of all others ; and in most 
respects their constitution agrees with that of the Mexican Republic. 



SECTION THIRD. 

HISTORY OF THE WEST LADIES. 

i by U( 

Oct. l-:ih 1,492. 'J'he first settlement was made at Nassau in New 
Trovidence by the English, 1,672. These islaiids soon after became 
the resort of pirates. Their leader was John Teach, called Black 
/^c«n/, who for ajjont tfii years vvas the sovereign of these islands, 
and the terror of the Xoiih American coast. He was killed off the 
const of N. Caroh'na in 1,713. Dining most of the remaining pcri(jd 
ihe English havequietiV piw-fs-cd the B.iliniTi.-s, but they have con- 
stantly -erved as Imkii.^' ■: i • ,' : wi:' ; ;Mt> ■. These have miilii- 
plied ijix^atly in all tlic V\ < -i li; ':, -. \MiiiiM ilic last ten years, and no 
tfffclua! means have been deviled lor extery^inatiiw tiiem. 

2. When the Bahamas were discovered, the population was esli- 
■aated at about 40,000. The inhabitants called Uiemselves Lucayans. 



468 HISTORY OF THE WEST INDIES. 

They were mostly devoted to maritime life, and subsisted principal- 
ly upon fi?h. Tliey Avoie ip;norant of the use of iron, but made some 
ise of cottoii and of gold. They were a kind, friendly peMj)h» 
averse to vvar. Scarcely 20 years, however, h:ui elapsed, before tlie 
rapacious Spaniards transported them all by force or artifice, to dig 
in the mines of Hispaniola. Being remarkably expert divers, some 
of them were afterwards transported to tne coast of Cumaiia, and em- 
ployed in the pearl fishery- 

3. TuK Grkater. Antilles when first discovered, w6re inhabited 
by a race called Arrowauks. They also possessed a great part of 
Trinidad. It appears that they were descended from the Arrowauks 
cf Guiana. All of this name spoke one language, and had the same 
in.-titutions. They believed in an invisible, omnipotent Creator* 
named Jocahuna, but admitted a plurality of subordinate deities, andj 
like the American Indians generall}', they believed in a fiitnre slatf 
oi retribiilion. Their ciiildren were entirely naked, but the aduitf 
wore a ^light covering of cotton cloth round the waist. They wen:- 
a mild and liospitable peo;)Ie, hut elfeminate and sensual. The cli- 
mate, and fertility of the sod nnturally made them indolent. Fiom 
evening till dawn they were much engaged in dancing, and as many 
as 30,000 sometimes joined at once in this favourite amusement. 

4. These i.-lands were divided into great kiiigdf)ms, subject to 
caciques or hereditary mfjiiafchs. Each kingdom was subdivided 
into numerous yirincipalities. The regal authority was absolute, but 
ivas administered with great mildness. The aboriginal population 
has been estimated at 3,000,000 : but within 20 years after the dis- 
(oveiy by Columbus, the great body of them were exterminated. A 
\iry iew'only reiriain in tJie island of Cuba 5 but the Arrowauks in 
Guiana are still a distinct tribe. 

5. There is liKie in the history of colonial government-- that is inter- 
esting anil valuable ; and none of the West India islands, except St, 
Domingo, have become independent. The Spaniards have lost many 
of the i;^l:!iids to which they firsi laid claim : but the present posses- 
tors are well known from common geographies, and the time wher> 
these trilling revolutions took place is of little consequence, while the 
effects produced, were so unimportant. One fact is worthy of record 
in favoui of the Spaniards — whose rapacity and cruelty has beeri 
equalled !jy no other nation in modern times, and who have, of late 
years, been sutTei'ing a natural and just retribution of ihei-- enormities. 
But to their credit be it said, — the'ir treatment of negro slaves has 
been more lunnane than that of other nations : and the Spanish laws 
enacted in their favour, have had a powerful influence to enlighten the 
English and French in this cause of humanity. 

6. The Biiccaniers, who were the lorefathersof the present pirates, 
deserve some notice. They consisted originally of a body of Frencn 
?.nd Etiglish planters expf lied by llio Spaniards fiom the island of Si. 
Chii.-tdphers m l,fi29, with circmnstances of outrageous barbarity. 
They first established themselves on the small island of Torlnga, near 
the N. W. part of St. Domingo. They were here joir,(!d by some 
Dutch emigrants, u'ho had been expelled in the same manner fnjm 
Santa Cruz. Their first occupation was hunting wild cattle on the 
plains of St. Domingo, which they bncccnicd and bioughl to the jilace 
of their retreat. The word buccan signified a grate or htniile on 
which meal was prepare* before the fire; and from their abundant 
use of it, these people \vere called biiccaniers, bucuiners, or buccaneers. 
A few j^ears af\er their establishment heres a Spanish armament, 



HISTORY OF THE Vv'EST LNDIES. 4m 

.♦rfhout any provocation, invaded them, and barbarotisly murdered 
all Mieir womon and children. This roused the Buccaniei';^ ia rt- 
Vettge ; and they soon Ijecamc the reohL terrible aiU; gon;,'<ts the 
Spuniard- ever encountered. Many oiheis joined them, and they 
became formidable botli from dieir numbers and their desperate biave- 
ly. By their means toe Spania.rds lost the western part of St. Do- 
iiiing'o, and the whole island ofJiU-viaica, besides an almost incredible 
amount of property, and a great number of human lives. Their most 
K'uowned leaders were Montbars, a native of Lai!o;uedoc, and Hemy 
iMorfian, a Welshman. The war between En<>:land and France in 
l,<i«f!. occasioned a disunion of the English and French Buccaniei-s, 
and greatly weakened their force, and they possessed little powei 
after the year 1,700. 

7. St. Domingo or Hayti furpishes tne most important items in 
the history of the West Indies. Spain ceded the western half of the 
island to France by the treaty of Ryswick in 1,697. It did not be- 
come a prosperous colony till thirty years after. In 1,791 an alarm- 
ing insumc'ction of (he negroes broke out in the French colony, which 
deluged half of the northern province in blood. The next year, the 
national assembly proclaimed tlie political equality of the whites, 
and free peoy)le of colour. The conunissioners of the French govern 
ment, in 1,793, decreed the emancipation of all the slaves in the colo- 
ny. On file 21st of Jtnie of the same year, Mocaya, a black, at the 
head of 3,000 negroes, beaau an indiscriminate slaughter of the white? 
at cape Franvois^ and multitude.- were massacred. 

". An expedition from Jamaica in 1794-5-6, attempted to reduce 
the island, but "as, each year, driven ofli'liy the yellow faxev. 'I'ht 
eastern Ij.i.'f was ceded to France in 1,795, but it was of little import- 
ance to that country. In 1,801 , July 1st, die blacks rose and decl.-ued 
themselves independent, but its independence was not well established 
till 1,804, The first sovereign assumed the title of .1 aqitfs 1. Empk- 
ROR OF Hayti. He enjoyed his power but a short time, beiiig kilk-d 
in a conspiracy ; and was succeeded by Christophe under the title <>( 
Henry I. King of Hayti. Hi* dominions were on the north part ot 
the island ; the southern was occupied by a republican party, -nost- 
ly muiattoes, under Petion who assumed the title of President 
oflJayti. Frequent antl bloody conflicts occurred between these 
two parties. On the death of Petion in 1,817, P.oyf.k was appointed 
President; and. on the death of Christophe, the two parties united 
under President Poyicr, and have nov/ estaljiished a veiy eilicieiit 
goveriunent. He is an intelligent, energetic, and humane sovereign ; 
and his administration is highly calculated to promote the happiness 
of his subjects. In 1,808. the'Spaniards, aided by f)ie English, re- 
took the eastern part of the island, but their colonj' has little lorce. 
and lives on friendly terms with the blacks. 

9. The Caribbean Islands, when discovered, were innabited by a 
numerous, cultivated, and powerful nation, called Caraibe.s or Carib- 
bees. They were more warlike than the Arro'vauks. Towards eacl» 
other they were faithful, friendly, and affectionate ; but T-egarded all 
strangers as enemies. They were well skilled in most of the arts of 
life ; and their religion aclinowledged one supreme, independen! 
Deity; and taught a future state of retribution. Nearly all of this 
race have been exteiniim ted on these islands, but tluy still remain 
on the continent of South America a very povverlul nation. 

10. There is little else that i? iiteresting in the history of the West 
lodies, except to those who wisn to learn more of the aborigines, and 

Kr 



470 HISTORY OP SOUTH AMERICA. 

of the merciless treatment they received from tne Spaniards. A very 
minute history of these islands has been written by EdAvards. 



SECTION FOURTH. 

HISTORY OF SOUTH AMERICA. 

UNITED PROVINCES. 
1 The river La Plata was discovered in 1,516. Buenos Ayreg 
was iKJttled in 1,535, From the settlement of the country until 1,778 
its history comprises only a series of vexations from the despotism of 
viceitrys, of privations from monopolies, and commercial restrictions, 
and of'^sufferings from wars foreign to its interests. From this period 
to 1,781, the Indians from the upper country continually harassed 
the provinces, burnt many towns, and destroyed many of tiie inhabi- 
tants ; but they were at length defeated by the combined armies ot 
Buenos Ayres and Lima. 

2. In l!i806, the coiintiy was invaded by the British, and Buenos 
Ayres was taken without opposition. An army froni the interior soon 
expelled them. A second Attempt was made in 1,807, but \he people 
beginning to acquire confidence in their own strength, attatcked the 
army while in the city, and were cou.pletely successlul. 

3. On the 25th of J\Iay 1,810, in conseqvipnce of the renunciation 
of Ferdinand VII. in favour of Napoleon, and iKe deranged state of 
affairs in Spain, a junta was convened at Buenos Ayres to lake the 
government into their own hands, still administering it, however, in 
the name of Ferdinand. This was the commencement of n revolu- 
tion which delivered them from the slavery they had sull'ered for 
nearly 300 years. Since that period, they have been in reality inde- 
pendent. 

4. Since 1,810, there have been four revolutions, each of which haa 
changed the government, but there has constantly l^^en a representa- 
tive assembly. On the 9th of July 1,816, the congress made, and 
promulgated a declaration of absolute independence. In December 
of the same year the country was invaded by the Portuguese, and a 
considerable part v.as conquered. It has, however, reclaimed its 
possessions, and its government has become so well established, that its 
independence has been acknowledged by other nations. 

BRAZIL. 

1. This country was discovered by Pedro Alvarez Cabral, a Por- 
tuguese, in 1,500. As little gold or silver was found near the coast, 
it was for a while wholly neglected, and none but criminals and aban- 
doned women were seht hither. In 1,548, the inquisition, after plun- 
dering the Jews of their property, banished them to Brazil. A 
governor was sent over the following year, v/ho immediately built 
St. Salvador. It was reduced i-.i 1,624, by the Dutch, and taken 
from them in 1,625, by the Spaniards. Portugal reclaimed it jn 
about 1,645, and remained in undisturVied possession of the whole 
country till the late revolutions throughout South America. 

2. In the latter part of 1,806, in consequence of the invasion of 
Portugal by the French, the royal family embarked for Brazil, undei 
jirotection of an English squadron. Rio de Janeiro contmued to be 
their residence from 1,B07 till 1,821. When they left Brazil, th« 



HISTORY OF SOUTH AMERICA. 471 

prince royal, the king^'s eldest son, remained at the head of the 
government. The unsettled state of the government of the mother 
country, soon excited i revolutionarj' spirit in most of these provin- 
ces, and they declared for independence. The crown was offered to 
the prince royal, and accepted under the title of emperor. 

GUIANA. 

The history of these colonies presents little worth relating. They 
have frequently changed masters, but with little detriment or advan- 
tage. Their present situation is well known fiom common geogra- 
phies. A great part of the country is occupied by Indians. Of these, 
the Caraibes are the most numerous, brave, warlike, and industrious. 

REPUBLIC OF COLOMBIA. 

1. New-Granada originally constituted a part of Peru. Two au- 
diences were erected in 1,547, the one at Panama, the other at Santa 
F'e de Bogota, and the territories under the jurisdiction of both, con- 
stituted a captain-generalship. Quito was made the seat of an audi- 
ence in 1,563, but the territories belonging to it, still remained attached 
to Poru. In l,71o, New-Granada was erected into a viceroyalty ; 
Quito and Venezuela were annexed to it, and the audiences of Pana- 
ma and Quito were abolished. These were afterwards restored, and 
in 1,739, tlie territories dependent on the three audiences of Panama, 
Santa Fe, and Quito, were again erected into a viceroyalty. A con- 
gress assembled at Carthagena in Nov. 1,811, and declared the coun- 
try independent, but it was afterwards reclaimed by the royalists. 

2. Venkzukla was discovered by Columbus in 1,498. After .several 
ineffectual attempts to settle it by missionaries, it was finally reduced 
by force, and assigned by Charles V. to the Welsers, a German mer- 
cantile hou.se. Their administration was so tyrannical, that they 
\ver(^ dispossessetl in 1,550, and a supreme governor was appointed 
by the king of Spain. From this period till 1,806, it remained in 
quiet subjection to the mother country. 

3. In 1,«06, general Miranda, a native of Caraccas, placed himself 
at the head of an expedition, fitted out partly at St. Domingo, and part- 
ly at New-York, with the design of liberating this countiy from the 
Spanish yoke. Finding his force inadequate^ he abandoned his men 
to the mercy of the provincial government. 

4. In 1,811, the inhabitants revolted from the Spanish yoke, and 
declared themselves independent. The declaration bears date July 
5lh. 1,811, exactly 35 years and one day alter that of the United 
State.s. This revolution, like that of the United Provinces, was 
caused by the disorders in Spain. This country and New-Granada, 
continued in a revolutionary state till 1,819, when they both achieved 
their inilependence under the rencwned Bolivar. 

5. On the 17ili of Dec. 1,819, the congress of Venezuela, at St. 
Thomas of Angostura, made a declaration yf the fundamental law of 
union of the Republic of Colombia. On the 17th of July 1,821, the 
representatives of New-Granada and Venezuela, in general congress 
at the city of Rosario de Cucuta, declared the following among others, 
fundamental laws of the union of the people of Colombia ; That the 
people of New-Granada and Venezuela be united in one body as a 
nation, under the name of the Republic of Colombia ; That the govern- 
ment be popular and representative ; The nation free, and indepen* 
dent of the Spanish monarchy, as well as of all other powers ; That 



472 HISTORY OF SOUTH AMEKI\ja. 

the government consist of legislative, executive, and judiciary au- 
thorities ; That the territory be divided into six departments, havir^ 
an administration dependent on the national government ; That whei> 
the state of the nation shall admit, a new city saall be founded, as the 
capital of the Republic, which shall bear the name of the liberator 
Bolivar, the site to be determined by congress ; That there be an 
annual festival of three days on the 25th, 26th, and 27th of Dec. 
The constitution resembles that of the United States. Since its adop- 
tion the country has been prosperous, and its independence seems to 
be firmly established. 

PERU. 

1. A few tribes inhabiting this country had made considerable ad- 
vances in civilization when it was first visited by the Spaniards. 
Bein^ destitute of the art of writing, the early history of the Ameri- 
can Tt)dians exists only in tradition. There were indeed some 
records preserved by the Mexicans and Peruvians, but these were 
mostly destroyed by their conquerors, and the iew that remained 
were not very intelligible to the Spaniards. Some credit however 
must be given to the tradition of the kingdom estaolished at Ciizco, 
m order to account for its great snperioritj' over others. 

2. The story is as follows : — Peru was originally possessed by small 
indepen'.lent tribes, all of which were strangers to almost every spe- 
cies of cultivation or regular industry, without any fixed residence, 
and roamed about naked in the forests. After they had struggled for 
several ages with the hardships and calamities which are inevitable 
in such a state, and when no circumstance seemed to mdicate the ap- 
proach of an}' uncommon effort towards improvement, there is said 
to have appeared on the banks of the lake Titicaca, a man md wo- 
man of majestic form, and clothed in decent garments. They de- 
clared themselves children of the Sun, sent by their beneficent parent, 
who beheld with pity the miseries of the human race, to instruct and 
to reclaim them. The Peruvians worshipped the Sun ; and, there- 
fore, the commands of these strangers-were regarded as heavenly in- 
junctions. Several of the dispersed savages united together, and 
followed their guides to Cuzco, where they settled and began to lay 
the foundation of a city. 

3. Mauv-o Capac and Mama Ocollo, for such were the names of 
those extraordinary personages, having thus united some wandering 
tribes, formed that social union, which by multiplying the desires, 
and uniting the efforts of the human species, excites "industiy, and 
leads to improvement. Manco Capac instructed the men in agricul- 
tine, and other useuil arts ; Mama Ocollo taught the women to spin 
and weave. The blessings of civilized life were gradually extended 
to neighbouring tribes, and the dominions of succeeding chiefs, called 
Incas, or Cltildren of the Sun, compiised all the regions west of the 
Andes from Chili to Quito. 

4. To preserve the succession of the Incas pure and unpolluted by 
mixture with less noble blood, the sons of Manco Capac married 
their own sisters. As these Incas assumed the rank not only of legis- 
lators, but messengers from Heaven, the whole system of civil policy 
tvas Ibunded on religion. Their precepts were received as mandates 
of the Deity. Hence their authority was unlimited and absolute 
in the most extensive meaning of the uorJs. All crimes were con- 
sidered not only as violations of civil duty, but as insults offered to 



HISTORY OF SOL Til AMERICA. 473 

the Deity ; aiid they were all punished capitally. But so great nas 
the veneration for the Incas, that the number of offendeis was ex- 
tremely small. The genius of their religion was exceedingly mild, 
and as divine autiiority was ascribed to the Incas, the mmds of the 
people were not humbled and depressed by a forced subjection to 
the will of a superior ; and obedience implied no degradation- 

5. Thus during twelve successive reigns this happy nation ad- 
vanced in knowledge' and virtue, in weallii and power, and in all the 
essential arts of civilized life. Agriculture was in a state of high 
improvement ; architecture was advanced to a state equal to their 
wants ; their roads, bridges, and manufactures ; f^ieir use of gold and 
silver for utensils and works of ornament, all b'^ar testimony that they 
had advanced far above the common state of savage life. But there 
was no very distinct arrangement of professions ; no cities were es- 
tablished except Cuzco, to give activity to conmierce ; they knevt 
not the use of iron, and hence were ''ittle qualified to work in wood 
and stone ; they appear to have J^ad no good method for lighting theii 
houses, — to have been ignoran-* of the construction of arches, — ofeveiy 
convenient method of recording events, and of perpetuating thi*. 
knowledge they possessed. 

6. When the Spaniard? rirst visited Peru in 1,526, Huana Capac- 
the twelfth Inca, was seated on the throne. He is represented ah 
eminent for his virti.es, his knowledge, and his military talents. He 
had subjected ihc kingdom of Quito and added it to his dominions. 
He was ibnd of residing in the capital of that province ; and contrary 
to the lundamental law of the rnonarchy, he married the daughter of 
the- vanquished monarch of Quito. She bore him a son named Ata- 
fctialpa, wiiom at his death, Avhicn seems to have occured about the 
year 1,529, he appointed his successor toQui to, leaving the rest of his 
dominions to Huascar, his eldest son. This was no sooner known at 
Cuzco, than it excited general disgust. The Peruvians were shocked 
at this violation of a fundamental law, coeval with the empire, and 
founded on sacred authority. Huascar was hence encouraged to re- 
quire of his brother to renounce the government of Ci,uito ; but Ata- 
hualpa had a large part of the Peruvian army under his control, and 
was little inclined to yield to the demand. Hence arose a civil 
war, whicli continued to rage until Pizarro with his cruel and per- 
fidious band, came among them in 1,532, 

7. The Spaniards, availing themselves of the existing dissensions, 
found the conquest easily attainable. Both the Incas were put to 
death under circumstances of most awful barbarity. No language 
can describe the detestable cruelties oi' these graceless invaders. A 
few, indeed, among them were found to protest against it, but in the 
heart of Pizarro, the common ieelings of humanity had been absolute- 
ly annihilated by his avarice. Cuzco furnished more valuable spoil 
than was ever found in any other city. The whole countiy was soon 
subjected ; and its mines were seized in the name of the kirg of Spain. 

8. Since 1,533, Peru has remained a Spanish province, subject to a 
viceroy. Fcr the form of government in all the Spanish provinces in 
America, see Sec. I. Part V. The countiy is now much smaller 
than when governed by the Incas. In 1,718, Quito on the north a« 
far as the river Tumbez, was annexed to New-Granada ; and in 1.778, 
Potosi and other rich districts on the southeast were annexed to Bue> 
nos Ayres. 

P. For several years Peru has been in a revolutionary state. The 
left^'itr of the patriots is Jose San Martin. The capital has 8«v«r«l 
Rr2 . M 



474 HISTORY OF SOUTH AMEKRrA. 

times fallen into their hands, but has been retaken by the royalisfs. 
Their prospect for independence is yearly increasing:, and the royal- 
ists now possess only a small part of U])per Peru. This is the only 
territory now possessed Ly the Sjianiards on the continent ot" America. 
It cannot be many years before the New World which they discovered, 
and which has suffered so much tVotn their lapacity and tyranny, will 
be completely wrested from their cruel despotism. 

CHILI. 

1. We know iiothing of the history of Chili previous to the middle 
of the fifteenth ceniviry. From the Peruvian annals it appears that 
Yupanqui, the tenth Ir^^a, made an attempt to subject the Chilese. 
He met with little opposWon till he anived as far as the river Kepel. 
Beyond this was -i formidable nation named Promaucians or free, dan,' 
cers. In a long battle they wtre successful, completely routed the 
Peruvians, and drove them from ihek territories. The Inca imposed 
an annual tribute of gold on the conquered tribes, but no innovation 
was attempted, either in their customs, manners, or government. 

2. The country was invaded by the Spaniards uHder Almagro in 
1,535. He left Cuzco with 570 Spaniards and 15,000 Peruvian aux- 
iliaries. Disregarding the remonstrances of hfs confederates, he 

§ referred passing the Cordilleras, to the entrance, less dangerous at 
lat season, by the desert of Atacama. Winter had commenced 
when they reached the Cordillera Nevada, and the six)w fell in such 
abundance, and Vie cold was so intense, that not less thao 10,000 Pe- 
ruvians and 150 Spaniards perished. In a second expedition Alma- 
fro found the natives exceedingly friendly. They looked up to iJie 
paniards as beings of a superior order, and were ready to yield sub- 
mission. But when they arrived among the Promaucians, they met 
with such powerful resistance, as determined them to abandon the 
enterprise. 

3. Keturning to Cuzco a contest ensued between Almagro and 
Fizarro, in which the former was slain. Pizarro, now sole master of 
Peru, determined on the conquest of Chili. He entrusted the expe- 
dition to Valdivia, one of the ablest generals among the Spanish ad- 
venturers. He met with very inveterate animosity from aM the tribes, 
but their opposition was too feeble to arrest the progress of 2,000 
Spaniards, under such a lt>ader. Having overcome the Mapochinians 
who resided on the river Mapocho, he laid the foundation of St. Jago 
and erected a strong citadel for protection. The natives continued 
for six years their feeble attempts to regain their beautiful plain, but 
finding their object hopeless, the few that remained destroyed their 
crops, and retired to the mountains, Valdivia, haviiig received a 
reinforcement from Peru, invaded and conquered the Promaucians, 
and established colonies in many places. Endeavouring to penetrate 
still farther southward, he encountered the most formidable enemy 
which the Spaniards ever met Avith in America. This was the na- 
tion of the Araucanians. He gained some victories over them, but 
was frequently repulsed, and at length was completely defeated, him- 
self taken prisoner, and his whole army slain, with the exception of 
two Promaucian auxiliaries. Villagran, the successor of Valdivia, 
made a desperate attempt to revenge the death of that favourite 
general, but was repulsed with great slaughter. He was, how- 
ever, successful in a very important subsequent engagement, in which 
Lautaro, the Araucanian general, was slain. 

4. The contest continued for several years with various success 



HISTORY OF SOUTH AMERICA. 47S 

till the Araucanians were much enfeebled. They have not, however, 
been conquered, and they retain to this day a considerable part of 
their ancient territories. They presene their ancient customs and 
language in a considerable degree of purit)^ There are few lan- 
guages so regular in their structure, or so copious in their inflections, 
as the Araucanian. They had made considerable advancement in 
civilization, Avere remarkably active and energetic in their bodily and 
mental habits, generous and dignified in their disposition and deport- 
ment. Connected with the perfection of their language, was their 
habit of cultivating the art of oratory ; and we know very few civib^ied 
nations that have so faithfully observed the common duties of charity. 

5. From the period of the conquest of Chili till its revolution in 
1,810, few occurrences of much interest are recorded. At this time 
the Chilese, finding the same embarrassments which were suffered by 
other provinces on acconnt of the disorders in Spain, took the govern- 
ment into their own hands, — still holding out the idea, however, of a 
reunion with the mother country when circumstances would permit. 
In 1,H14, the royal troops from Peru invaded Chili, entirely defeated 
the patriots at Kaneagua, and reconquered the country. A remnant 
of the patriot forces fled over the Andes, where, with oiher Chilian 
refugees and two regiments of negroes, and some officers, tliev were 
reorganized by general San Martin under the name of the United Army 
of the Andes. In 1,817, they re-entered Chili, entirely vanquished 
the royal troops at Chacabuco, and restored independence to the 
country. The passage of this army over the Andes with its artillery, 
deserves to be ranked among the most celebrated achievements re- 
corded in history. It was effected with the loss of about 5,000 horses 
and mules, and a small number of men who perished wiili thoi cold. 

6. On the 12th of February 1,818, the nation made a formal declara- 
tion of absolute independence. The royal truops who escaped from 
the battle of Chacabuco being reintbrced by all the royal forces .•/i 
Peru, about 5,000 in number, renewed the contest with the patriots ; 
but after a temporary success, they were finally defeated in the de- 
cisive battle of Maypo, April 5th, 1,818. This event is celebrated 
by the Chilese in their songs, festivals, and histories, with the. most 
enthusiastic expressions of gratitude and admiration. 

7. The government established in Chili is republican. Education 
is making considerable progress, and every ray of light confirms the 
people more absolutely in the love of liberty. Tlieir independence 
is acknowledged by other nations. They live in amity with the 
Araucanians, who have a minister at the capital. Weie they exempt 
from the tyranny of the Catholic religion, we might regard them as 
destmed to oecome a great and happy nation ; but while this exists, 
they will make slow progress in that real knowledge which can result 
only from the free use ot the faculties, with which Heaven has en- 
dowed the children of men. 

8. Too much can hardly be said in praise of the disinterestedness, 
prudence, braveiy, and steady perseverance of Don Jose San Martin. 
in maintaining the cause of South American independence. Fond of 
the retirement of private life, he has uniformly laid aside the high digni- 
ties with which the gratetui patriots of Chili, Buenos Ayres, and 
Peru, have repeatedly invested him, wlenever the good of their cause 
would permit it ; and, although in time.« of such public excitement, 
the best men are subject to suspicion, envy, and slander, we have 
good reason for rankii.g this distinguished veteran among thase, who 
fegard not their own, but the public good. 



476 HISTORY OF SOUTH AMERfCA. 

9. Nor is that distinguished hero and statesman, Bolivar, entitlfed 
to less renown. To him the Republic of Colombia principally owes 
its independence, and he has been one of its most efficient ai^^ents in 
wganizing the new government. He is now President of the Re- 
public ; and, his career not being closed, we cannot decide on the 
rank to which his whole life will entitle him ; but he has hitherto trod 
in the footsteps of the Leader of the first American Revolution, and 
if he persist in this course to the end, his name will be ranked by pos- 
terity with that of Washington. 1 825. 



CHRQNOL^SClCAL. TABLE. 



EXPLANATION OF THE TABLE OF CHRONOLOGY. 

To give a distinct view of thfi succession of princes in the chief emi/ires 
or kingdoms, without employing different columns, (which distracts tlie 
attention, and occupies too much space,) the series of the sovereigns of 
difl'erent nations is distinguished in this table by different typographical 
characters. By this method the succession of the sovereigns in the different 
kingdoms is immediately distinguishable, and also the duration of their 
reigns. In the intervals of time between every two successive reigns are 
recorded the remarkable events which occurred in those periods, in all parts 
of the world ; and thus the connexion of general history is preserved un- 
broken. 

The series of the kings and emperors of Rome is printed in a larger Ro- 
man type than the rest of the table : as, 

1 4 Tiberius, Emperor of Rome 

The series of the popes is distinguishable by this character IT prefixed to 
each name; as, 

1513 II Pope Leo X. 
The names of the emperors of Germany are printed in Italic capitals; as. 

887 ARNOLD, Emperor of Germany. 
The kings of England are designated by the black Saxon type ; as, 

lOGG SS^tlUam (the Conqueror) king of England. 

Tiie kings of Scotland are denoted by a larger capital beginning the 
word ; as, 

1390 Robert III., king of Scotland. 

The kings of Franco are distinguished by the Italic type ; u, 

1496 Lewis Xli., king of France. 



CfHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



B.C. 

4004 The Creation of the World, according to the Hebrew text of the 

Scriptures. 
According to the version of the Septuagint 5872. 
Acording to tlie Samaritan version 4700. 

2348 The Universal Deluge. 

2'.i47 The Building ofBaSel; the Dispersion of Mankind; and the Confu- 
sion of Languages. 

2217 Nimrod supposed to have built Babylon, and founded the Kabylonish 
Monarchy ; and Assur to have built Nineveh, and founded tlie 
Monarchy of Assyria. 

8188 Menes (in Scripture Misraim) founds the Monarchy of Egypt. 

2084 The Shepherd Kings conquer Egypt. 

2040 Moeris King of Thebes and Memphis in Egypt. 

19!)6 The Birth of Abram. 

I8i)7 Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed by fire from Heaven. 

18!J() Isaac born. 

185G Inachus fiunds the Kingdom of Argos in Greece. 

1830 Jacob and Esau born. 

1825 The Shepherd Kings abandon Egypt. 

1823 Deatii of Abraham. 

l7f)C Tlie Deluge of Ogyges in Attica. 

1722 Sesostris or Kameses King of Egypt. 



I()35 Joseph dies in Egypt. 
.-^, "•• "■ logy of tl 

1571 Moses born in Egypt 



1582 The Chronology of the Arundelian Marbles begins with this year. 



1550 Cecro])s founds the kingdom of Athens. 

1.540 Scamander founds the Kingdom of Troy. 

1532 Judgment of t.*^^e Areopagus between Mars and Neptune, two priacas 

of Thessaly. 
152;) The Deluge of Deucalion in Thessaly. 
1522 The Council of the Amphictyons instituted. 
1520 Corinth built. 

1500 Eroctheus or Erycthonius institutes the Panathenaean Games. 
1493 Cadmus builds Thebes, and introduces Letters into Greece. 
1491 Moses brings the Israelites out of Egypt. 
1453 The first Olympic Games celebrated in Greece. 
J452 The Pentateuch, or five Books of Moses, written. 
1451 The Israelites led into the land of Canaan by Joshua. 
1438 Pandion King of Athens. 

1400 Minos reigns in Crete, and gives laws to the Cretans. 
1370 Setiiof- reigns in Egypt. 
1322 Belus reigns in Babylon. 
1207 Ninus reigns in Assyria. 

1200 Oedipus marries his Mother Jocasta, and reigns in Thebes. 
1203 The Argonaulic Expedition. According to the Newtonian Cbraool 

ogy 937. 
1257 Theseus unites the Cities of Attica. 
1253 Tyre, the capital of Phoenicia, built. 
42S5 Si»ge of Thebes. War between EtooclM and Polji 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. ATJ 

B. C. 

1225 Eurysthenes and Procles Kings of Lacedaemon. 
1215 Second War of Thebes, or War of the Epigonoi. 

Seiniramis s«ppose<l to have reigned at Babylon. 

1207 Gideon Judge of Israel. 

1202 Teuecr built Salamis. 

1193 The Trojan War begins. 

1184 Troy taken and burnt by the Greeks. According to the Arundelian 

Marbles 1209. 
1182 JEnea<i lands in Italy. 
1155 Samson born. 

1104 Return of the Ilteraclidre into Peloponnesus. 
1099 Samuel delivers Israel. 
1079 Saul King of Israel. 
1070 Medon first Arciion of Athens. 

1009 Codrus King of Athens devotes himself for his country. 
1055 David King of Isriel. 
1004 Dedication of Solomon's Temple. 

980 Rehoboam King of Israel. 

889 Athaliah, wile of Jehoram, usurps the throne of Judah. 

88(5 Homer's Poems bronglit from Asia into Greece. 

884 Lycurgus reforms tlie Constitution of Lacediemon. ' 

869 The city of Carthage built by Dido. . 

820 Nineveh taken by Arbaces and Belesis, whifch finishes that kingdom. 

776 The first Olympiad begins in this year. ' 

769 Syracuse built by Archias of Corinth. 

767 Sardanapalus King of Assyria. 

760 Tlie Ephori, popular Magistrates, instituted at Laceda3mon. 

757 Halyattes King of Lydia. 

754 Decennial Archons elected at Athens. 

7.52 The foundation of Rome bj Romulus. 

748 Rape of the Sabine Women. 

747 The Era of Nabonassar made use of by Ptolemy. 

738 Candaules King of Lydia. 

724 Hezekiah tenth King'of Judali. 

721 Salmanazar takes Samaria, and carries the Ten Tribes into captivity, 

which puts an end to the Israelitish Kingdom. 
71;") Numa Pompilius second King of Rome. 
711 £l«nnacherib, King of Assyria, invades Judea. 
710 Dejouoa King of Media. 
708 Habakkuk prophesied. 
703 Corcyra foundcM hy t|,e Corinthians. 
696 Manasseh sixteenth iu„a of Judah. 
688 Judith kills Holofernes tlie Assyrian General. 
684 Annual Archons elected at Athfc».= 

681 Esarhaddon unites the Kingdoms of Bohylon and Assyria. 
G72 TuUus Hostilius tiiird King of Rome. 

G70 Psammeticus King of Egypt. ^ 

G67 The Combat between the Horatii and Curiatii. 
658 Byzantium founded by Pausanias King of Sparta> 

Phraortes King of Media. 

C40 Ancus Martius fourth King of Rome 
C27 The Forty Years of Ezekiel began. 
026 Periander Tyrant of Corinth. 

Nabopolassar, father of Nebuchadnezzar, begins to reign at Babylon. 

624 Draco Archon and Legislator of Athens. 

616 Tarquinius Priscus fifth King of Rome. 

606 Nebuchadnezzar takes Jerusalem, and carries the Jews into captivity. 
(501 Battle between the Medes and Lvdians, who are separated by a great 
eclipse oi the sun, predicted by Tbales. (Newton, Chron. S85.) 



480 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 

B.C. 

GOl End of tlie Assyrian Empire. Nineveh taken by Nebuehadnexzar. 

600 Jtnemiali propiiesicd. 

599 Birth of Cyrus liie Great. 

594 Solon Arclion and Legislator of Alliens. 

578 Servius Tullius sixth King of Rome. 

572 Nebuchadnezzar subdues Egypt. 

571 Plialaris Tyrant of Ajrrigenlurn. 

562 Comedies first exhibited at Athens by Thespis. 

Crffisus reigns in Lydia. 

551 Cont'ucius, the Cliinese Philosopher, born. 

550 Pisistratus Tyrant of Athens. 

548 The Ancient Temple of Delphos burnt by the Pisistratids. 

538 Babylon taken by Cyrus. End of the Babylonian Empire. 

536 Cyrus ascends the throne of Persia. He puts an end to the Jewish 

captivity, which had lasted seventy years. 
534 1 arquiliius Supcrbus seventh King of Rome. 

Daniel prophesied. 

529 Death of Cyrus the Great. Cair.byses King of Persia. 

Death of Pisistratus Tyrant of Athens. 

522 Darius, son of Hystaspes, King of Persia. 

520 The Jews begin to build the second Temple, which is finished in four 
years. 

510 Tlio Pisistratidas expelled from Athens, and the Democracy restored. 

• — Statues erected at Athens to Hannodius and Aristogiton. 

509 The Tarquins expelled from Rome and the Regal Government abol- 
ished. 

508 The first Alliance between the Romans and Carthaginians. 

504 Sardis taken and burnt by the Athenians. 

498 The first Dictator created at ESime (Lartius.) 

497 Institution of the Saturnalia at Rome 

493 The port of Piraius built by the Athenians. 

490 Tiie Battle of Marathon, ir, .vhich Miltiades defeats the Persians. 

488 The first Tribunes of the People created at Rome. According to 
Blair 493. 

Miltiades dies in prison. 

486 Xerxes succeeds his father Darius in the kingdom of Persia. 
485 Coriolanus banished from Rome. 
483 Q.ua;.stors instituted at Rome. 

Aristides banished from Athens by the Ostracism. 

480 The Spartans, under Leonidas, slain at TliermopyJ'"- 

Naval Victory gained by the Greeks over the Jvrsians at Salamis 

479 Attica laid waste and Athens burnt by M-"'J""'us. 

Victories over the Persians at Plat.'»>^ and Mycale. 

Xerxes leaves Greece. 

477 300 Fabii killed by the V^.-entes. 

476 Themisioclcs robuiJJs Athens. 

Valerius triinopOs over the Veientes and Sabines. 

The Rom-in Citizens numbered at 103,000. 

A great Eruption of ^Etna. 

Hiero King of Syracuse. 

471 Volero, the Roman Tribune, obtains a law for the election of magia. 

trates in the comit-a held by tribes. 
470 Cinion, son of Miltiades, defeats the Persian army and fleet in ono 

day, at the mouth of the river Eurymedon. 
469 Capua founded by the Tuscans. 
464 Artaxerxes (Longimanu.s) King of Persia. 

Cimon banished by the Ostracism. 

463 Egypt revolts fiom the Persians. 

46ii The Tereatian Law proposed at HoDM. 

45€ Cineinaatui Dictator at Rom*' - > 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 48] 

B.C. 

456 The Ludi Ssecu ares first instituted at Rome. 

455 Commencement of the Seventy Prophetical Weeks of Daniel. 

453 The number of the Tribunes of the people at Rome increased from 

Five to Ten. 
452 The two Books of Chronicles supposed to have been written at this 

time by Ezra. 
451 Ci cation of the Decemviri at Rome, and Compilation of the Laws of 

the Twelve Tables. 
4 !l) Peace between the Greeks and Persians concluded by Cimon, glorious 

for Greece. 

Death of Virginia, and Abolition of the Dccemvirate. 

4 15 The Law of Canulcius for the Intermarriage of the Patricians and 

Plebeians at Rome. 

Military Tribunes created. 

437 The Censorship first instituted at Rome. 

43G Pericles in high power at Athens. 

132 Meton'e Cycle of the Moon of nineteen years. 

431 The Peloponnesian War begins, which lasted twenty-seven years. 

430 The History of the Old Testament ends about this lime. 

Gieat Plague at Athens, eloquently described l)y Thucydides. 

Malachi the last of the Prophets. 

428 Death of Pericles. 

423 Darius Nethus King of Persia. 

413 Disturbances at Rone on account of the Agrarian Law. 

414 The Athenians defeated before Syracuse. 

413 Alcibiades, accused at Athens, flies to tlie Lacedaemonians. 

412 A Council'of 400 governs Alliens. 

405 Lysandei defeats the Athenians at /Egos Potamos. 

404 Arta.xerxes H. (Mncmon) Ki-ng of Persia. 

End of the Peloponnesian War. ^ 

•103 Lysandei takes Athens. Governnient of the Thirty Tyrants. 
401 The younger Cyrus defeated by his brother Arlaxerxes, and killed 

Retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks. 

Persecution and Death of Socrates. 

Thrasybulus drives out the Thirty Tyranta, and delivers Athens. 

309 A Lectisterniuni first celebrated at Rome. 

3D7 The Lake of Alba drained by the Romans. 

306 Syracuse unsuccessfully besieged by the Carthaginians. 

391 Marcus Furius Camillus Dictator at Rome. Veil taken. 

357 Dishonourable Peace of Antalcidas between the Spartans and Per 

sians. 
385 Rome taken by the Gauls under Brennus. 
383 Phaebidas, the Spartan, seizes the Cil,;del of Tiiei)es. 
380 Pelopidas and Epaminondas deliver Thebes from the Lacedasmonians. 
371 Battle of Leuctra, in which the Lacedaemonians are defeated by the 

Thebans under Ej?aminondas. 
364 Pelopidas defeats the Tyrant of Pheresa, but is killed in battle. 
303 Battle of fllatinea, in which Epaminondas is killed. 
362 Curtius leaps into a Gulf in the Forum at Rome. 
361 Darius Ochus (or Artaxerxes III.) King of Persia. According to 

Blair, 358. 

358 War of the Allies against Athens. 

Philip of Macedon takes Ainphipolis, Pydna, and Potidea. 

357 Dion overcomes the party of Dionysius at Syracuse. 

356 Alexander the Great born at Pella'in Macedonia. 

The Temple of Diana, at Ephesus, burnt by Erostratua. 

The Phocian or Sacred War begins in Greece. 

Philip conquers the Thracians, Paeonians, and Illyrians. 

350 Darius Ochus subdues Egyot. 

348 Philip of Macedon takes Olymhus.' 

Ss 61 



482 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

B.C. 

3-18 End of the Sacred War. 

347 Dionysius restored at Syracuse, after an e.xile of ten years. 
346 Philip admitted a Member of the Amphictyonlc Council. 
343 Syracuse taken by Timoleon, and Dionysius the Tyrant finally ban- 
islied. 

— Tlie War between the Romans and Saranites, which led to the con- 

quest of all Italy. 
'^40 The Carthaginians defeated near Agrigentum. 

P. Decius devotes himself for his country. 

338 Battle of Cheronaia gained by Philip over the Athenians and Thebans 

337 Piiilip chosen Generalissimo of the Greeks. 

33G Philip murdered by Pausanias. 

Alexander the Great King of JMacedon. 

Alexander the Great destroys Thebes. 

33."j Darius HI. (Codomannus) King of Persia. 

Alexander cJiosen Generalissimo by the States of Greece. 

334 Alexander defeats the Persians on the banks of tha Granicus. 
333 The Persians defeated by Alexander at Issus. 

332 Alexander conquers Egypt, and takes Tyre. 

331 Darius defeated by Alexander at Arbela. 

330 Darius Codomannus killed. End of the Persian Empire. 

— Alexander takes possession of Susa, and sets fire to the Palace of 

Persepolis. 
323 Alexander passes into India, defeats Porus, founds several cilieSj 

penetrates to the Ganges. 

The Voyage of Nearchus from the Indus to the Euphrates. 

325 Papirius Cursor, Dictatoi .it Kcme, triumphs over the Samnites. 

;!24 Alexander the Great dies at Babylon, at the age of thiity-three. 

321 The Samnites make the Roman Army pass under the yoke at 

Caudium. 
320 Ptolemy cai-rics 100,000 Jews captives into Egypt. 
;;'/' Agathocles Tyrant of Syracuse. 
312 Era of the Selucidae. 
31 1 Cassander, Lysimachus, and Ptolemy, conclude a peace with Antig- 

onus. 
!504 Demetrius besieges Rhodes. 

:>03 Demetrius restores the Greek Cities" to their liberty. 
■.?01 Battle of Ipsus in Phrygia, in which Antigonus is defeated and slain. 

Fabius Maximus and Valerius Corvus Dictators. 

300 Seleucus founds Antioch, Edessa, and Laodicea. 

1:93 Athens taken by Demetrius Poliorcetes. j 

294 Seleucus resigns his Wife Stratonice to his son Antiochus. ! 

28G Law of Horte;isius, by which the decrees of the people were allowed 

the same force as those of the senate. 
265 The Astronomical Era of Dionysius of Alexandria. 
284 Ptolemy Philadelplius King of Egypt. 
283 The Library of Alexandria founded. 
231 Commencement of the Achaean League. 
280 Pyrrhus invades Italy. 
- — AntiocJius Soter King of Syria. 
277 The Translation of the Septuagint made by order of Ptolemy Phila-- 

delplius. Playfair, 285 

— Antigonus Gonatus reigned in Macedon thirty-six years. 
275 Pyrrhus unsuc.jessful against the Carthaginians in Sicily. 
274 Pyrrhus, totally defeated by the Romans near Beneventum, evacuates 

Italy. 
272 The Samnites finally subdued by the Romans. 
2G(3 Silver Money is coined at Rome fi^r the first time. 
255 The Citizens of Rome numbered at 292,224. 
204 The first Punic War begins. • The Chronicle of Paros composQ4 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 483 

B.C. 

260 Provincial Qusestors instituted at Rome. 

First Naval Victory obtained by the Romans under the Consul Duilius. 

2.55 Regulus defeated and taken prisoner by the Carthaginians under 

Xantippus 
.25'.5 Mftnassoh cjiosen High Priest of the Jews. 
,2.0] Great Victory of Metel'.us over Asdrubal. 
2'->i) The Romans besiege Lilyboeum ; are defeated by Hamilcur. 
241 End of the first Punic War. 

Attains King of Pergamus succeeds Eumenes. 

240 Comedies are first acted at R,ome. 

2.35 The Temjile of Janus shut the first time since the reig:. of Numa 

22d Hamilcar killed in Spain. 

225 Great Victory of theRoman.s over the Gauls. 

219 Hannibal takes Saguntum. 

218 The second Punic War begins. 

217 Hannibal defeats the Romans under Fiaminius. 

Fabius Maximus Dictator. 

2U) Battle of Cannm, in which the Romans are totally defeated by Han- 
nibal. 
212 Philip II. of Macedon defeats the jEtolians. 

Marcel! iis takes Syracuse, after a siege of two years. 

211 Capua surrenders to the Romans. 

Antiochus the Great conquers Judsea. 

2i0 Asdrubal vanquished in Spain by the Scipios. 

Publiiis Scipio, sent into Spain, takes New-Carthage. 

200 Philupcemen Praator of the Achseans. 

203 The C;.rthaginians recall Hannibal to Africa. 

Sophonisba poisoned by Massinissa. 

201 Syphax led in triiunpli to Rome by P. Scipio. 
r,l7 Philip defeated by the Romans at Cynocephale. 

l!)o The Cattle of Zama, and end of the second Punic War. 

190 The Romans enter Asia, and defeat Antigonus atMagnesii. 

183 The elder Cato Censor at Rome. 

173 War between the Romans and Perseus King of Macedon. 

172 Antiocluis defeats the generals of Ptolemy i'n Egypt. 

170 Antiochus Epiphanes takes and plunders Jerusalem. 

1G9 Terence's Comedies performed at Rome. 

1G7 Perseus defeated by Paulus ^Emilius, and brought prisoner to Rome. 

End of the kingdom of Macedon. 
Ui6 Judas Maccabeus drives tlie Syrians out of Judea. 
1(;4 TJie Roman Citizens numbered at 327,032. 
1 19 The third Punic War begins. 
117 Meteilus defeats the Achasans. 
14() Corinth taken by the Consul Mummius. 

Carthage taken and destroyed by the Romans. 

137 The Romans shamefully defeated by the Numantines. 
1 35 The History of tiie Apocrypha ends. 

Antiochus besieges Jerusalem. 

133 Tiberius Gracchus put to death. 

Numantia taken. Pergamus becomes a Roman Province. 

121 Caius Gracchus killed. 

113 Carbo the Consul drives the Cinibri and Teutones out of Italy. 

Ill The Jugurthine War begms. 

108 Marms defeats Jugurtfia. 

103 Jugurtha starved to death at Rome. 

102 Marius defeats tiie Teutones and Cimbri. 

91 The War of the Allies against the Romans. 

90 Sylla defeats the Marsi, Peligni, Samnites, &c. 

89 The Mithridatic War begins. 

88 Civil War between Marius and Sylla. Sylla takea possession of Rome. 



484 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

B. c. . ^f^ri^'ii 

86 Mithridates King of Pontus defeated by Sylla. 'i 

83 Sylla defHats Norbanus. Tlie Capitol burnt. i 

82 Sylla perpetual Dictator. His horrible Proscription. 

80 Julius Caesar makes his first Campaign. 

79 Cicero's first Oration for Roscius. 

78 Sylla resigns ail power, and dies. 

77 The War of Sertorius. 

72 Lucullus repeatedly defeats Mithridates, and reduces Pontus to a 

Roman province. 
70 (Jiassus and Pompey chosen Consuls at Rome. 
*>3 V^ictories of Pompey. He takes Jerusalem, and restores Hyrcanus to 

the government of Judea. 
02 Catiline's Conspiracy quelled at Rome by Cicero. 
Gl Pompey enters Rome in triumph. 
5iJ Tlie first Triumvirate ; Pompey, Crassus, and Casar. 

— Ca3sar proposes a new Agrarian Law. 

58 Clodius the Tribune procures the Banishment of Cicero. 

57 Ciesar defeats Ariovistus in Gaul. 

— Cicero brought back from Exile with high honour. 
55 Csesar lands in Britain, and makes a short campaign. 

54 Cffisar invades Britain a second time, and conquers part of it. 

53 Crassus killed in Mesopotamia. 

52 Milo defended by Cicero for tlie slaughter of Clodius. 

49 Cajsar passes the Rubicon, and marclies to Rome. 

— Commencement of the Era of Antioch, October, 49 A. C. 
48 Battle of Pharsalia, in which Pompey is defeated. 

— Pompey slain in Egypt. 

— The Alexandrian Library of 400,000 volumes burnt. 
4G Cato besieged in Utica, kills himself 

45 The Kalendar reformed by Julius Cassar, by introducing the Soiai 
Year instead of the Lunar. The first Julian Year began January 1, 

44 Julius Csesar killed in the Senate-House. 

— Octavius, grand-nephew and heir of Julius Caesar, comes to Rome, 

and is opposed at first by Antony. 
43 Second Triumvirate ; Octavius, Mark Antony, and Lepidus. 
42 Battle of Philippi, in which Brutus and Cassius are deieated. 
40 Herod marries Mariamne, daughter of Hyrcanus, and obtains from the 

Romans the Government of Judaea. 
34 Antony divides Armenia among the children of Cleopatra. 
33 Mauritania reduced into a Roman Province. 
32 War declared by the Senate against Antony and Cleopatra. 
31 Battle of Actiurn and end of the Roman Commonwealth. 

— Octavius Emperor of Rome. 

30 Death of Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Alexandria taken by Octa- 
vius. 
Octavius receives the title of Augustus. 
23 Death of Marcelhis. Agrippa in Spain. 
20 Porus King of India sends an Embassy to Augustus. 
17 Agustus revives the Secular Games. 
15 The Rhreti and Vindelenci defeated by Driisus. 
10 The Temple of Janus shut by Augustus for a short time. 

8 Augustus corrects an Error of the Roman Kalendar. 

- Death of Mneccnas. 

5 Augustus ordains a Census of all the people in the Roman Empire. 
4 JESUS CHRIST is born four years before the commencement of the 
vulgar era. 
AD. 

9 The Roman Legions under 'Varus, destroyed in Germany- 

- Ovid the Poet banished to Tomos. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 485 

A. D. 

14 Tiberius Emperor of Rome. 
19 Gcrmanicus dies at Antioch. 

— Tiberius banislies the Jews from Rome. 

26 John the Baptist preaches in Judaea the Coming of the Messiah. 

27 Tiberius retires to the island of Capreae. 

— Pilate made Governor of Judtea. 

31 Sejanus disf^raced, and put to death by Tiberius 
33 IT St. Peter first Pope. 

— JESUS CHRIST is crucified. 
35 Tiie Conversion of St. Paul. 
37 Caligula Emperor of Rome. 

39 St. Matthew writes his Gospel. 

40 The name of Christians flrst given to the Disciples of Christ at An- 

tioch. 

41 Claudius Emperor of Rome. 

— Merod persecutes the Christians, and imprisons Peter. 

42 Scrgius Paulus, proconsul, converted by St. Paul. 

43 Expedition of Claudius into Britain. 

44 St. Mark writes his Gospel. 

45 Vespasian in Britain. 

47 The Ludi Sacularcs (secular games) performed at Rome. 

48 Mcssuiina put to death by Claudius, who mames Agrippina the 

motiier of Nero. 
50 St. Paul preaches in the Areopagus at Athens. 
f>l Caractacus, the British Kjng, is carried prisoner to Rome. 
54 Nero Emperor of Rome. 
C>5 Britannicus poisoned by Nero. 

59 Nero jtuts to death his mother Agrippina. 

60 Suetonius Paulinas defeats the Britons. 

61 The Britons, under Queen Boadicea, defeat the Romans. 
04 The first Persecution of the Christians raised by Nero. 

— Rome set on fire by Nero. 

GO Bareas Soranus and Tlirasea PsEtua put to death by Nero. 

— H Pope Linus. 

07 Massacre of the Jews by Florus, at Cassarea, Ptolemais, and Alejt- 

andria. 

— St. Peter and St. Paul put to death. 

— Josephus, the Jewish histririan, governor of Galilee. 

— H Pope St. Clement. 

08 Galba Emperor of Rome. 

09 Otho Emperor of Rome. 

_ Vitellius Emperor of Rome. 
70 Vespasian Emperor of Rome. 

— Jerusalem taken and destroyed by Titus. 

77 IT Pope St. Cletus. 

78 A great Pestilence at Rome, 10,000 dying in one day. 

79 Titus Emperor of Rome. 

— Herculaneum and Pompeii destroyed by an Eruption of Vesuvius. 

80 Conquests of Agricola in Britain. 

81 Domitian Emperor of Rome. 
83 TT Pope Anacletus. 

89 Apollonius of Tyanea defends Iiiniself before Domitian against an 
accusation of Treason. 

95 Dreadful Persecution of the Christians at Rome, and in the prov- 
inces. 

— St. John writes his Apocalypse, and Jiis Gospel. 
L!6 Nerva Emperor of Rome. 

S82 



486 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

A.D. ; .-i-X 

96 ir Pope Evaristus. W 

98 Trajan Emperor of Rome. 

-- Trajan forbids the Christian Apsemblies. 

103 The Dacians subdued by Trajan. 

1U7 Trajan's Victories in Asia. 

108 St. Ignatius devoured by wild Beasts at Rome. 

IT Pope Alexander I. 

115 The Jews in Cyreno murder 200,000 Greeks and Romans. 

1 17 TI Pope Sixtus I. 

118 Adrian Emperor of Rome. 

Persecution of the Christians renewed by Adrian, but afterward 

suspended. 
120 Adrian's Wall built across Britain. 
127 ir Pope Telesphorus. 

131 Adrian visits Egypt and Syria. 

132 Adrian publishes his perpetual Edict or Code of the LiMirs. 
135 The Romans destroyed 580,000 Jews in Judaea. 

137 Adrian rebuilds Jerusalem by the name of Mlia. Capitolina. 

138 IT Pope Ilygiuus. 

Antonius Pius Emperor of Rome. 

142 IT Pope Pius I. 

150 Ti Pope Anicetus. 

154 Justin Martyr publishes his Apology for the Christians. 

161 Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and Lucius V ems Emperors of 

Rome. 
IG2 H Pope Soter. 

167 Poly carp and Pioniccs suffered Martyrdom in Asia. 
ir)9 War witii the Marcomanni. 
171 Death of Verus. Marcus Aurelius sole Emperor. 

V Pope Eleutherius. 

177 Pcrscijution of the Christians at Lyons. 

ISO Commodus Emperor of Rome. 

185 IT Pope Victor I. 

189 The iSaracens defeat the Romans. This people first mentioned in 

history. 

193 Pertinax Emperor of Rome. Didius Julianus purchases the 

Knpire. 

- _ Pescennius Niger declared Emperor in the East. 

Septimius SeverUS Emperor of Rome. 

194 Niger defeated by Severus, and put to death. 

195 Byzantium besieged, surrenders to Severus. 

196 Albinus proclaimed Emperor in Britain. 

197 Albinus, defeated by Severus, lulls himself. 

M Pope Zephyrinus. 

200 

202 The fifth Persecution against the Christians, principally in Egypt. 

208 Severus. with his sons Caracalla and Geta, in Britain. 

209 The Caledonians repulsed, and a Wall built between the rivem Forth 

and Clyde. 

211 Caracalla and Geta Emperors of Rome. 

212 Caracalla murders Geta. 
217 Caracalla put to death. 

— Macrinus Emperor of Rome. 

TT Pope Calixtus L 

213 Heljogabalus Emperor of Rome 



CHRONOLOGIOAL TABLE. 497 

A. D. 

222 Alexander Severus Emperor of Rome. 

— A Tribute paid bv the Romans to the Gothflu 

— IT Pope Urban I.' 

226 The Persians totally defeated bv Alexander Sevenw 
230 V Pope Pontianiis. 

235 V Pope Anterus. 

- Maximinus assassinates Alexander Severue, and is proo1aiin«d Ewh 

peror of Rome. 

236 The sixth Persecution of the Christiatfie. 

- IT Pope Fabianus. 

237 Maximinus defeats the Dacians and Sarmatians. '• 

238 Maximus and Balbinus Emperors of Rome. 

Gordian Emperor of Rome. 

2^^12 Gordian defeats the Persians under Sapor. 
244 Philip the Arabian Emperor of Rome. 

248 Tlie Secular Games celebrated at Rome. Pompey's Theatre bOIDt. 

St. Cyprian elected Bishop of Carthage. 

249 Decius Emperor of Rome. 

250 The seventh Persecution of the Christians under Decins. 

IT Pope St. Cornelius. 

251 Vibiu.S Volusianus Emperor of Rome. 

G alius Emperor of Rome. 

252 IF Pope Lucius I. 

253 The Goths, Burgundians, &c. make an Irruption into Moeim and 

Paimonia. 

254 Valerianus Emperor of Rome. 

TI Pope Ste])hen I. 

257 TJio eighth Persecution of the Christian* 

f Pope Sixtus II. 

2.50 Tlie Persians ravage Syria. . , 

IT Pope Dionysius. ' 

2G0 Gallienus Emperor of Rome. 

The Temple of Diana at Ephesus burnt. 

261 Sapor, the Persian, talies Antioch, Tai-sua, and CtBsana.. 

267 The Heruli invade and ravage Greece. 

268 Claudius II. Emperor of Rome. 

260 The Goths and Heruli, to tho number of 320,000, defeated hf 
Claudius. 

"iT Pope Felix I. 

270 Aurclian Emperor of Rome. 

271 The Alemanni and Marcomanni ravage the Empire. 

272 The ninth Persecution of the Christians. 

273 Zenobia Queen of Palmyra defeated by Aureliaa «t ! 

274 H Pope Eutychianus. 

275 Tacitus Emperor of Rome. 

276 Fiorianus Emperor of Rome. 

277 Probus Emperor of Rome. 
28? Carus Emperor of Rome defeats the Qnadi an 

282 Carinus, Numerianus, Emperors of Rome. 

283 II Pope Cuius. 

- Finga! King of Morven died. 

284 Diocletian Emperor of Rome. 
286 Tlie Empire attacked by the Noffticm IVationi. 

- Carausiufi usurps the government of Britain, and relglW I 



488 CHRONOI-OGICAL TABLE. 

A. D. 

290 The Gregoiian and Hermogenian Codes published. 

292 Partition of the Erapiro by Diocletian between two Emporors and Iwo 

Cffisars. 
205 IT Tope Marceilinus. 

Alexandria in Egypt taken by Diocletian. 

300 

302 The tenth Persecution of the Christians. 

304 IT Pope Marcellus. 

Resignation of Diocletian and Maximian 

- Galerius and Constantins Emperors of Rome. 

305 Maximinus Emperor of Rome. 

S06 Constantine the Great Emperor of Rome, lie etops the Per 

sccution of the Christians. 
.no IT Pope Eusebius. 

H Pope Melchiades. 

314 U Pope Sylvester. 

325 Constantine abolishes the Combats of Gladiators. 

He assembles the first General Council at Nice, wlrere the Doctrines 

of Arius are condemned. 

326 St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, introduces iMonarchisra iu the 

Roman Emp4re. 
329 Constantine removes the Seat of Empire to Constantinople. 

336 T[ Pope Marcus. 

337 IT Pope Julius I. 

. Death of Constantine. The Empire divided among his three Sons. 

- Constantine II., Constans, and Constantius, Emperors of 

Rome. 
352 IT Pope Liberius. 
350 TT Pope Felix I. 

357 The Germans defeated by Julian at Strasburg. 

358 H Pope Felix II. 

361 Julian Emperor of Rome. He abjures Christianity, is elected Pon- 
tifex Maximus, and attempts fruitlessly to rebuild tke Temple of 
Jerusalem. 

363 Jovian Emperor of Rome. 

364 Valentinian Emperor of the West. 

Valens Empcrer of the East. 

366 IT Pope Damasus. 

367 Gratian Emperor of the West. 

375 Valentinian 11. Emperor of the West. 

376 Valens allows tiie Goths to settle in Thrace. 

378 The Goths advance to the Gates of Constantinople. Death of Valens. 

379 Theodosius the Great Emperor of the East. 
381 Second General Council held at Constantinople. 

383 The Huns overnm Mesopotamia ; are defeated by the Goths. 

384 Symmachus pleads the cause of Paganism against St. Ambrose in tiie 

Senate. 

385 IT Pope Syricius. 

392 Theodosius Emperor of the West and East. 

395 Arcadius Emperor of the East, and HonoruiS of the West- 

The Huns hivade the Eastern Provinces. 

397 St. Chrysostom chosen Patriarch of Constantinonle. 
399 !T Pope Anastasius. 
r^ Gainas the Goth obtains Honours from Arcadius. 



OHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. m9 

AD. 

400 

Alario the Goth ravages Italy. 

401 U Pope Innocent I. 

403 Stilicho, General of Honorius, defeats Alario near Pollentia. 

404 Fergus I. King of Scotland, supposed to have begun his reign. 
40G The Vandals, Alans, &c. invade France and Spain. 

408 Theodosius II. Emperor of the East. 

410 Eonie sacked and burnt by Alario. Death of Alaric. 

411 Tiie Vandals settled in Spain. 

416 The Secular Games celebrated at Rome. 

The Pelagian Heresy condemned by the Bishops of Africi. 

417 IT Pope Zozimus. 
413 IT Pope Boniface I. 

420 Pharamond first King of the Franks supposed to have begun hit 

reiffn. 
422 ^ Pope Cjelestinus. 

424 Valentinian III. Emperor of the West. 
i26 The Romans withdraw finally from Britain. 
i23 .^lius, the Roman General, defeats the Franlia and Goths. 
■431 The third General Council held at Ephesus. 
432 H Pope Sixtus III. 
435 The Theodosian Code published. 

439 Generic the Vandal invades and plunders Italy. 

— Eudocia the Empress, wife of Theodosius, retires to Jerusalem. 

— - Carthage taken by the Vandals. Kingdom of the Vandals in Africa. 

440 H Pope Leo the Great. 

442 Theodosius forced to make a disgraceful Peace with Attila the Hun. 

Attila causes his brotiier Bleda to be m.urdered. 

445 Tlie Britons in vain solicit the Romans to assist them against the Picta 

and Scots. 
445 Attila tlie Hun overruns Illyriura, Thrace, Dacia, Moesia, and Scythia. 

448 Tl!0 Romans engage to pay a heavy Tribute of Gold to Attila. 

449 McrovoEus King of the Franks. 

450 Marcian Emperor of the East. 

— Attila ravages Germany and France. 

451 Tlieodoric King of the Visigoths killed in battle. The Huns defeated 

by ^tius. 

— The Sa.Kons arrive in Britain under Hengist and Horsa. 

— The fourth (General Council held at Chalcedon. 
4ri2 Foundation of the city of Venice. 

455 Petromius IVlaximus Emperor of th« West. 

— AvitUS Emperor of the West. 

- Rome taken and plundered by Genseric the Vandal. 
45G Childeric King of the Franks. 

4.57 Leo the Great Emperor of the East. ^^ 

Majorianus Emperor of the West. '^ 

461 Severus Emperor of the West, raised by Ricimer. 

H Pope Hilarius. 

4G7 Anthemius Emperor of the West. 

4 (38 Eric King of the Visigoths drives the Romans out of Spain. 

H Pope Simplicius. 

470 .^Ua the Saxon takes possession of the Kingdom of Sussex. 

471 iElla defeats all the British Princes. 

472 Great Eruption of Mount Vesuvius, seen from ConsUmtinopIe. 
. Olybius Emperor of the West. 

63 



490 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

473 Glycerius, Emperor of the West, degraded and stripped by 

474 Julius NepOS Emperor of the West. 

Zero Emperor of tlie East. 

AagUStuIus Romulus Emperor of the West, raised by his father 

Orestes, General of Nepos. 
47G Orestes put to death by Odoacer King of the Heruli. 

Rome taken by Odoacer now king of Italy. 

Extinction ok the Western Empire of the Romans, 507 years 

from the battle of Actium, and 1^24 from the building of Rome. 
4Sl Clovis King of t-lie, Franks. 

- Zeno makes Theodoric, the Ostrogoth, his General, and creates him 

Consul* 

483 U Pope Felix III. 

485 Battle of Soissons gained by Clovis 

4.S8 Theodoric, the Ostrogoth, entirely defeats Odoacer, and is acknowl- 
edged King of Italy by the Emperor Zeno. 

490 The Burgundians, under Gondebald, ravage Italy. 

Ireland, called the Isle of Saints, famous for its Schools. 

4U1 Anastasius Emperor of the E-ast. 

493 Odoacer put to death by Theodoric. 

49(i IT Pope Anastasius II. 

497 Clovis and the Franks converted to Christianity. 

49S U Pope Symmachus. 

499 Alliance between Clovis and Theodoric the Great 
500 

- Gondebald, the Burgundian, becomes tributary to Clovis. 

501 The Burgundian Laws published by Gondebald. 

502 Cabades King of Persia ravages part of the Eastern Empire. 
504 The Eastern Empire makes peace with Cabades. 

507 Clovis defeats Alaric the Visigoth, and receives a congratulatory em- 

bassy, with a diadem, from Anastasius. 

508 Theodoric the Great defeats Clovis in the battle of Aries, and then 

makes peace with him. 

510 Clovis makes Paris the capital of the kingdom of the Franks. 

511 Death of Clovis. Division of his kingdom among his four sons, 
Childehcrt, Tluerry, Clotaire, and Clodomir, Kings of the FravJcs. 

512 The Heruli allowed by Anastasius to settle in Thrace. 

514 H Pope Hormisdas. 

515 Arthur king o-f the Britons supposed to have begun his reign. 

516 The Computation of Time by the Christian Mra. introduced by Dio 

nysius the Monk. 

517 The Cetse ravage lUyrium, Macedonia, and Epirus. 
ni8 Justin I. Emperor of the East raised from obscurity. 

519 Justin restores the Orthodox Bishops, and condemns the Eutychians. 

Cabades King of Persia proposes that Justin should adopt his son 

Cosroes, and makes war on a refusal. 
523 IT Pope John I. 
525 The Arian Bishops deposed by Justin, and this act highly resented ky 

Theodoric. 

Antioch and many other cities almost destroyed by an earthquake, and 

rebuilt by Jastin, who adopts his nephew Justinian. 
52G Theodoric puts to death Boethius and Symmachus. 

— IT Pope Felix IV. 
527 Justinian 1. Emperor of the East. 

529 Belisarius, General of Justinian, defeats the Persians. «■ 

The Books of the Civil Law published by Jusiiniau. 

530 % Pope Boniliice II. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 491 

A. D. 

532 Justinian congratulates Cosroes on succeeding to the throne of Persia. 

and concludes a perpetual peace with him. 

<7rcat Insurrection at Constantinoj)le quelled with prodigious slaughter 

by Belisarius. 

533 Athalaric King of the Ostrogotns dies, and is succeeded by his mother 

Amalasonta. 

IT Pope John II. 

534 Theodobcrt King of Metz. 

IJelisarius defeats Gelimer and the Vandals in Africa. 

535 H Pope Agapetus. 

536 IT Pope Sylvester. • 

537 Belisarius subdues the Ostrogoths in Italy, and takes Rome. 

538 H Pope Vigilius. 

540 Belisarius refuses to accept the crown of Itaiy. 
543 Totila, the Goth, recovers Italy from the Romans. 

547 Totila takes and plunders Rome. 

548 Theobald King of Mctz. 

549 Rome retaken by Belisarius. 

550 Commencement of the kingdom of Poland under Lechus. 

Rome recovered by Totila. 

551 The manufacture of Silk introduced into Europe. 

553 Totila defeated by Nurses the Eunuch, and put to death. 
.555 IT Pope Pelagius I. 

558 The Huns, breaking into Thrace, are defeated by Belisarius. 
659 Belisarius degraded, and ungratefully treated by Justinian. 

Clotaire sole King of France. 

5(50 11 Pope John HI. 

Belisarius restored to his Honours and Command. 

562 Caribert, Gontran Sigchcrt, and Chilperic, Kings of France. 

565 Justin 11. Emperor of Rome. 

566 Narses, recalled from Italy, invites the Lombards to take possession 

of the country. 
568 Italy conquered by the Lombards. 
571 Birth of Mahomet the false Prophet. 
574 IT Pope Benedict I. 
578 Tiberius II. Emperor of the East. 

IT Pope Pelagius II. 

5S0 The Latin Tongue ceases to be spoken in Italy about this time. 

582 Maurice Emperor of the East. 

584 Clotaire II. King of Soissons. 

590 Antioch again destroyed, with 30,000 inhabitants, by an Earthquake 

IT Pope Gregory the Great. 

596 T/iicrri/ II. and Tlicodobert II. Kings of Paris and Austrasui. 

Augustine the Monk converts tlie Saxons to Christianity. 

600 

602 Phocas Emperor of the East acknowledges the Supremacy of the 

Popes. 
604 IT Pope Sabinianus. 

607 IT Pope Boniface IV. , , o • 
The Pantheon at Rome Dedicated to God, the Virgm, and the feainU, 

608 11 Pope Boniface IV. 

609 The Jews of Antioch massacre the Christians. 
611 Heraclius Emperor of the East. 

613 The French Maires du Palais first introduced by Clotaire as Regents. 

614 Clotaire II. sole King of France. . j 1. u 
QueeD Brunechilda, accused of numberless crimes, is put to deslh by 

Clotaire II. 



4^ CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 

A.D. - 

615 IT Pope Deusdedit. 

616 Jerusalem taken by the Persians undej- Cosroes II. 
618 IT Pope Boniface V. 

622 Era of the Hegyra, or Flight of Mahomet from Mecca to Medina. 
625 H Pope Honorius I. 

The Persians under Cosroes II., with the Huns, Abari, and Sclavo 

nians, besiege Constantinople. 
628 Dagohert and Charibert Kings of France. 

632 Death of Mahomet. Abubeker succeeds hira as Caliph of the Sara- 

cens. 

633 Abubeker dies, and is succeeded by Omar in the Caliphate. 

636 Jerusalem taken by Omar and the Saracens, who keep possession of il 

463 years. 
638 Sigebert II. and Clovis II. Kings of France. 

640 TT Pope Severinus. 

- Tf Pope John IV. 

The Library of Alexandria, founded by Ptolemy Philadelphus, is 

burnt by the Saracens. 

641 Constantine, Emperor of the East for a few months, poisoned by 

his step-mother. 

- Heraclionas and Tiberius III. Emperors of the East. 

642 Constans, son of Constantine, Emperor of the East. 

If Pope Theodorus. 

645 Otman succeeds Omar m the Caliphate. 

648 Cyprus taken by the Saracens under Mawia. 

649 TI Pope Martin I. 

653 The Saracens take Rhodes, and destroy the Colossus. 
G54 Childeric II. King of Jiustrasia. 

U Pope Eugenius I. 

655 AH Caliph of Arabia. Mawia CaJiph of Egypt. 
657 II Pope Vitalianus. 

C58 The Saracens obtain Peace of the Emperor Constans, and agree to 
pay a yearly tribute. 

668 Constantius V. (Pogonatus) Emperor of the East. 

669 Sicily ravaged by the Saracens. 
672 IT Pope Adeodatus. 

The Saracens ineffectually besiege Constantinople. Their fleet de- 

stroyed by the Greek Fire used by Callinicus. 

675 The Saracens attempt to land in Spain, but are repulsed by Wamba 

King of the Visgoths. 

676 IT Pope Donus. 

679 Thierry IV. King of all France. 

- TT Pope Agatho. 

680 The sLsth General or CEeumenical Council of Constantinople. 
682 TI Pope Leo II. 

684 f Pope Benedict II. 

685 IT Pope John V. 

Justinian II, Emperor of the East. 

The Britons, totally subdued by the SaxonS; retreat into Wales and 

Cornwall. 

686 T[ Pope Canon. 

686 Ceadwalla King of Wessex subdues Sussex and Kent. 

687 IT Pope Sorgius. 

690 Pepin Heristel, Maire du Palais, defeats Thierry, ajid acquires the 

chief power in France. 
69? Clovis ill King of France. . 

694 Justinian U. detbronod, mutilated, and banished by Leontius. 
6&5 Gildtbert lit. King qf France. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 493 

AD 

6!)5 Lcontius Emperor of the East. Dethroned and mutilatod by 
6!)7 Apsimar or Tiberius Empeioi of the East. 
699 The Saracens defeated by John the Patrician. 
700 

The Saracens again defeated with great slauglUer by Heranlius, brother 

of Tiberius. 
701 TT Pope Joiin VL 

704 Justinian escapes from prison, defeats Tiberius, and is restored to tho 

throne. 
707 Justinian II. defeated by the Bulgarians. 

705 \\ Pope Sisinnius. 

H Pope Constantine. 

711 Philippicus Bardanes Emperor of the East. 

Diigobcrt HI. King of France. 

713 Aliastasius II. Emperor of the East. 

Spain crnquered by the Saracens under Muca, the general oi iho 

Caliph Walid. 

714 TI Pope Gregory II. 

Theodosius Emperor of the East. 

Charles Martel, Mairc du Palais, governs all France fbr 2G years. 

716 Child-eric II. King of France. 

Leo (tiie Is irian) Emperor of the East. 

730 Omar II. besieges Constantinople without success 

Tliiemj IV. King of Frnnce. 

72G Leo forbids the VVorsliip of Images, which occasions a great rebcrion 
of his subjects. Tho Pope dfifcnds the piacti<;e. 

703 Leo orders Pope Giegory to be seized and serif to Constantinople; 
ijiit tJie order is frustrated, and Leo confiscates the Imperial Do- 
mains of Sicily and Calabria. 

729 Tlie Saracens ravage Gallia Narbonnensis. 

r.M H Pope Gregory III. 

'l'^2 Charles Martel defeats the Saracens between Tours and Poicticrs. 

73() Leo persecutes the Monks. 

7-^7 Death of Pelagnus, who preserved the Christian Monarchy in Asturiii- 

7'10 The Duchy of Spolcto seized by the Normans. Recovered by the 
Pope. 

741 II Pope Zacharj. 

74'i Childeric Iff. king of France. 

Constantine (Co|)ronymws) Emperor of the East. An f.nemy to 

nnagcs and saint worship. 

';43 He defeats and puts to death Artabazdus, who had seized Constan- 
tinople". 

74r> He destroys the fleet of the Saracens. 

749 The Kaee of the Abassid.-e become Caliphs of the Saracens. 

751 Pepin {le Brcf) King of France, founder of the second, or Curloctr.' 
glan liiirr. 

7."»2 H Pope Stephen 111. 

753 Astoiphns King of tiie Lombards erects the Diikodom "f Ravenna* 

and clanns from the Pope the Dukedom of Rome. 

754 Pope Stephen requests the assistance of Pepin jigainst the Lombards. 

Pepin invades Italy, and strips Astoiphns of his new possessions, con- 

ferring them on the Pope as a tem;»oral sovereignty. 

Ahnanzor Caliph of the Saracens, a great eniourager of learnimr 

756 Desidernis, or Dider, proclaimed King of the Lombards, with the 

Pope's consent. 

- Abdalrahman I. takes the title of King of Cordova, and is the founder 
% of the splendid dominion of the Moors in Spain 

Tt 



494 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

AD. 

7r>7 11 Pope Paul L renews the alliance with Desiderius. 

7'i!) H Pope Steplien HI. quarrels with Desiderius. 

71)2 Almaiizor builds Bagdat, and makes it the seat of tlio Empire of the 

Caliphs. 
7G7 The Turks ravage Asia Minor. 
70d Charles {the Great) and Carloman, lungs of France. 

IT Po])e Stephen IV. 

770 Constantine dissolves the Monasteries in the East. 
77;:2 Charlemagne sole Monarch of France. 

Jle makes war against the Ba.xons. 

ir Pope Adrian L 

774 Charlemagne defeats Desiderius, and puts an end to the kingdom of 

the Lombards, which h.ad subsisted iiUfJ jears. 

775 Leo IV. Emperor of the East. 

778 Battle of Roiicezvalles between the Christians and Moors in Spam, 

where Rolando is killed. 
771) Charlemagne conquers JNavarrc and Sardinia. 
781 ConstaiiLine (Porj)hyrogenitus) Emperor of the East. 

Irene, Empress, is Regent in her son"s minority, and keeps him in 

entire subjection. 

She re-establishes the worship of images. 

785 Charlemagne subdues the Saxons. 

Haroun Alraschid Caliph of the Saracens. 

He invades and ravages a part of the Empire. 

78(J Constantine assumes the government of the Empire, and imprisons 
his mother. 

787 The Danes first land in England. 

The seventli General Council, or second of Nice. 

788 Irene puts to death her son Constantine, and is proclaimed so.e Em- 

press. 

793 Irene proposes to marry Charlemagne, which being disapproved by 

her subjects, she is dethroned, and confined to a monastery. 

Nicephorus Enjperor of the East. 

794 Charlemagne defeats and extirpates the Huns. 
H Pope Leo III. 

797 The Saracens ravage Cappadocia, Cyprus, Rhodes, &c. 

Nicephorus associates iiis son Saturacius in the Empire. 

800 

New Empire of the West. Charlemagne crowned Emperor at 

Rome. 
807 Haronn Alraschid courts the alliance of Charlemagne. 
811 Michael (Curopalates) Emperor of the East. 

813 Leo (the Armenian) Emperor of the East. 

Almamon, Caliph of the Saracens, a great encourager of learning. 

814 Lewis {I c Dehonnaire) Emjtcror of France. 

81G The Eastern Empue ravaged by Earthquakes, Famine, Conflagra- 
tions, &c. 

SIG TT Pope Stephen V. 

817 IT Pope Pascal I. 

Lewis (lb Deb.) divides the Empire among his sons. 

8Q1 Michael (nalbns or the Stammerer) Emoeror of the East. 

824 ir^Pope Eugene H. 

6'27 32ntJCl't unites the knigdoms of the Saxon Ucptarcliy. Beginning 
of the kingdom of England. 

T Pope Valentine 

eiiS Gregory IV. 

829 Theophilus Emperor of the East. 4 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 49ft 

A.b 

6:58 IHtUCliDOlf King of England. 
— 'lilt! Scots iindnr Kennotli entirely subdue the Picta. 
e-lU IJJTH.ilUUa Emperor of (jiorniany. 
t'lidilrs {Uic Unlil) Kinif of Friincc. 

841 Loiliiiiiiis defeated bv liis two brctliers in the battle of Fontcnai, and 

dq.o..vl. 

842 LEU Si (of Bavaria) Emperor of Cenaany. 
Miciiacl ill. Emperor of the East. 

SI'.} Th»! Normans phnidei the city of Rouen. 

S41 II Popo Ser-iu!^ III. 

8'!-') 1 iie Ncrnian.s |)lunder Hamburgh, and penetrate into Germany. 

^47 11 Popo Leo IV. 

848 Tlif) Venetian Fleet destroyed by the Saracens. 

851 11 Pope Jnau supposed to have filled the Papal cliair for two yean. 

BaSillUS associated Emperor of the East. 

8.').") LEH'lS If. Eiii|ierorof Germany. 

S57 S2t1)CillJal^ and ^UjeliJCtt Kings of England. 

b.'iS IT Pope Nicholas 1. 

8u(i IStljfivCtf King of England. 

667 The Danes ravage England. 

- Basiiius sole Emperor of the East. 

- 11 Pope Adrian IL 

- Potius, Patriarcli of Constantinople, c^icommuRicates Pope Adrian. 
S72 aif rCU (the Great) King of England. 

1, Pope John VIII. 

875 CHdllLES (the Bald) Emperor of Germany. 

877 LElf'lS (the Stammerer) Emperor of Germany and King of FriUize. 

879 LcAcis Til. and Carloman, Kings of France. 

The kingdom of Aries begins. 

880 CfURLES (the Gross) Emperor of Germany and King of France. 

llavagers of the Normans in France. 

882 H Pone Marinus. 

884 U Pope Adrian HI. 

8SG Leo (the Philosopher) Emperor of the East. 

The University of O.vford founded by Alfred. 

887 AIIjXOLD, Emperor of Germany. 

Tlie Normans besiege Paris, which is gallantly defended by Bishop 

Goselin and Count Eudes. 

888 Euiicsor Odo King of France. 

8'JO Alfred the Great^ ccmposes his Code of Laws, and divides £ng!rjld 

into Counties, Hundreds, and Tithings. 
891 IT Pope Formosus. 
e'.)6 II Pope Stephen VH. 

897 U Pope John IX. 

898 Charles III. {the Simple) King of France. 
900 

11 Pope Benedict IV. 

LEWIS IV. Emperor of Germany. 

901 12'SiDtirt? (the Elder) succeeds Alfred as King of England 

904 II Pope Leo V. 

905 II Pope Sergius HI. 

911 CO. VA'.4/J .'.' Emperor of Germany. 

Constantine IX. Emperor of the East. 

912 The Normans are established in Normandy under Rollo. 

913 11 Pope Anastasius. 

914 If Pope Landon. 

915 Constantine and Romanus Emperors of the East 



496 CHRONOLOGICAL TABL£. 

AD. 

915 IT Pope John X. ^, ..-.,, 

— The University of Cambridge founded by Edward the Elder. 
020 HHKIi Y (tl.e Fowler) Emperor of Germany. 
<)'i:? Roilol/tli King of France. 
93r, g|t1)Cll5tan King of England. 
!)y.S ^. Pope Le.) VI. 
!»•>!) ^ P<-i)(! Stpphnn VIII. 
[YM % |>..p.;J,.hn XI. 
\YM\ OTIIO (\\h: (iieat) Emperor of Germany. 

II I'opo Lfo VII. 

Ltiris I'/. {(lOutrcmer) King of France. 

il.'li i; I'opH Stophun IX. 

:MII II..W.I Dlia, King of Whales, an eminent Lawyer. 

!M4 iatimUna l. King of England. 

<.)\:\ 11 I'apo Marinns XIII. 

!Mt; 1i P..p.) Agapet. 

04S IStirftJ King of England. 

95-1 Liitliii r'nia Kitisr of Friuire. 

i).". jEiIVM^> Kinir of England. 

^.->(i K [»o|.o'.(..l.i. XII. 

).-)'.> Koaiaiius II. EmptTor of tiie East. 

— 12lJfiaU King of England. 

iHi:5 i: Popo I,f.. VIH. 

Niccniioriis I'liocus Emperor of the East. 

WA Otho tin; Great .-onipiors Italy. 

IK;.- i; l'op.-.Iolm XIII. 

'H)7 Antioch rocov.^rod from tl.e Saracens by Niccpiioius. 

IiCkI .loin Zcinisscs Emix-ror of ll:e East. 

!tT-<; i; Pop.- BoM.riict VI. 

!t7.{ OTIfO 11. Emperor of G.-rmany. 

:>74 i; Pope. Honifa.-c VII. 

;i7.". i; I'opu Benodirt VII. 

Basilius and Con.stantinc X. Emperors of the Eait. 

«)7(i litJlUartJ II. King ..f Englard. 

.'I7.i 22tflflCel3 n. King of England. 

!l.":{ or ho III. En.pt-ror of Germany. 

:M4 V F'op(;.lol.n XIV. 

!),^(i 1! I'ope John XV. 

— I^rirls r. {If. Fiilupanl) Kt'nsr of France. 

/Y„„./, Ciijct, King of France, fuundtr of the Third Race oj the 

•ifM 'I'lii- Arahic nnm(!ral Ciphers first introduced into Europo. 
'J»'J liohirrt {Ihe IVisc) King of Fiance. 

11 l't>()« (ircgory V. 

!>!^:» 1i Pope Sylvester II. 

1000 

l()Ui> 11F..\RY II. Emperor of Germany. 

(Jreai Massacre of the Danes bv Ethelred King of England. 

KitCJ i; Pope .lohn XVI. 

t Pope John XVII. 

1(1(11 1[ P..pe J. dm XVIII. 

lii(».') Chnnhis first bnilt in the Gotiiic style. 

|()(l!t 1i Pope rfergiiis IV. 

H»|-J 1i Pope Ikn.di.'t VIII. 

1'I13 The Danes, under Sueno, get possession of England. 

101.") The Munirliuan Doctrines prevalent m Franco and luly. 

iOifi JStHnUntr ll. (ironside) King of England. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, ^^ 

A.D. 

lOlfi Six Catties fought with tho Danes under Canute in England. 
1017 Canute the Dane (tho Greats King of England. 
lOljS Tho Normans invade Italy. 
1024 V Poi>o Jolin XIX. or XX. ' 
• — COjXIUD II. (tJie Sahc; Emperor of Germany, 
.025 Musical Characters invenied by Guide Aretino, 
1028 Romanus ArgyniS Emucrorof the East. 
10:U Hinry I. Kinor of France 
10:53 n P.-pe Bonodici IX. 
1034 Michael IV. Emperor of the East. 
103(; l^arOlK 11. (Ilarcn.ot) Kinir of England. 
11)3!) H'K.yit V III. Einpf-n.r ..f Germany. 

(SdlUltC H. or ?i?»irtlltanUte King of En-land, 

1040 Miiihcih iisinp.s llie Tiirone of Scotland by tho murder of Duncan. 

1041 IstitoarTJ m. (the confessor) King of England, restores the Sax- 

on lino. 

Michael (Calaphalcs) Emperor of the East. 

1042 ConstantillC (iMonomanhus) Emperor of the East. 

1043 The Turks, under Tangrolipix, subdue Persia. 
1045 I1 l>(.po Crcgory Vl. 

104(i ',1 Pope Clomont II. 
1048 1[ P.pc Damasus II, 
104!J !r Po[)e L('() IX. the first Pope who maintained a regular army, 

1054 Theodora Emperor of the East. 

Pof-e Leo IX. taken prisoner by the Normans. 

1055 H^ Popo Victor II. 

T!i(> T irks take Bagdat, and overturn the Empire of the Calipha. 

105U Hi:.yii V IF. Emooror of Germany. 

1057 ^lalcolin III. (Canmore) King of Scotland. 

Isaac (Comneniis) Emperor of the East. 

IT Po|)o 8t.-plK>n X. 

1058 1; Pope Nicholas II. 

Tlie f-aracciis driven out of Sicily by Robert Guiscard the Norman, 

10.')!) ConStantine XII. (I)ucas) Emperor of the East. 

KKiO P/tilij, I. k'iii<r of France. 

10t;l 1[ Pope Aloxnndor II. 

10G5 Till! Turks take .Ioru=aIem from the Saracens. 

10(i(; s/jarOlU H. King of England reigned nine months. 

(Si^'illUim (the Conqueror) King of England, 

1008 RoinailUS Diogenes Emperor of the East, 

Edgar Atheling s(!oks refuge in Scotland. 

10G8 Margaret, sister of Edgar Atheling, married to Malcolm King of Scot- 
land. 

1070 The Feudal Law introduced into England, 

1071 Michael Ducas Emperor of the East. 
1073 If Pope Gregory Vil. 

107(3 Tiie Emperor Henry IV. excommunicated and deposed by the Pope. 
1078 Nicephorus (Boton) Emperor of the East. 
107'J Doomsday-book begun by William the Conqueror, 
1061 Alexius I. (Comnenus) Emperor of the East. 

Ilonry IV. Emperor besieges Rome. 

1034 He is re-crowned Emperor of Germany, 
lose 1i Pope Victor III. 

1087 % Pope Urban II, 

k Tt2 es 



498 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

AD 

1087 SlSltiKain H. (Rufus) King of England. 
1093 St. Margaret Quoen of Scotland died. 
Donald Bane King of Scotland. * 

1095 Duncan II. King of Scotland. 

The first Crusade to the Holy Land. Peter the Heimit. 

1098 riie Crusaders lake Antioch. 

tidgar King of Scotland. 

109!) Jerusalem taken by Godfrey of Boulogne. The Knights of St. John 
instituted. 

H Pope Pascal II. 

UOU 

f^mtVl 1. (Beauclerc) King of England. 

llOa yiliscard of Normandy takes the title of King of Naples. 
11(34 .Baldwin King of Jerusalem takes Piolcmais. 
HOG IIBjVRV V. Emperor of Germany. 

1107 Alexander I. King of Scotland. 

1108 Lewis VI. {le. Gros) King of France. 

1118 ff Pope Gelasius II. 

The order of Knights Templars instituted. 

John (Comnenus) Emperor of the East. 

1119 1? Pope Calixtus 11. 

1124 David I. King of Scotland. 

.. 1; Pope Honorius II. 

1 1-25 LOTHARWS II. Emperor of Germany. 
Ii:«) IT Pope Innocent II. 
1135 ;Stfpt)en King of England. 

1137 Lewis VII. {la Jeunt) King of France. Married to Eleanor of Gui- 
enne. 

Tlie Pandects oi' the Roman Law discovered at Amalpiii. 

Ii:$8 CUAR.iD III. Emperor of Germany. 

The Scots, under David I., defeatedby the English in the battle of the 

Standard. 

1139 Alphonso I. King of Portugal rescues his kingdom from the Saracens. 

1140 The Canon Law first introduced into England. 

1141 Stephen King of Enghmd taken prisoner" in the battle of Lincoln by 

tiie troops of Matilda. 

1143 He recovers his kingdom. 
IT Pope Caelestinus H. 

Manuel (.Comnenus) Emperor of the East. 

1144 IT Pope Lucius H. 
114.'. r\ Pope Eugene HI. 

l|4fr Tlie. Second Crusade excited by St. Bernard. 

1 150 Tiie study of the Civil Law revived at Bologna. 

1151 Tiie Canon Law is ctdlected by (Jratian. a Monk of Bologna. 

1152 FREDERICK I. (Barbarossa) Emperor of Germany. 

1153 Malcolm IV. King of Scotland. 
—rtfujlifiope Anastasius IV. 

Treaty of Winchester. Compromise between King Stephen and 

Prince Henry. 

1154 il)fnVJ? II. (Plrntagenet) King of England. 

^ Pope Adrian IV. 

The parties of the Gnelphs and Ghibellinea disturb Italy. 

1157 The Bank of Venice instituted. 

1153 Interview between Henry II. and Malcolm IV. at Carlisle. 
1150 IF Pope Alexander IIL 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, 499 

AD 

IKiO The Albigenses maintain heretical doctrincB. 

11G4 Institution of tlie onlor of the Teutonic Knights in GennBDy> 

T. Becket condemned by the Council of Clarendon. 

1105 William (the Lion) King of Scotland. 

M71 T. Becket murdered it Canterbury. 

1172 Conquest of Ireland by Henry II 

J 180 Philip Augustus King of France. 

1181 Alcjius II. (Coninenus) Emperor of the East. 

1183 TT Pope Lucius III. 

Andronicus (Comnenus) Emperor of the East. 

1185 II Pope Urban III. * 

Isaac Angelas Emperor of the East. 

1187 % Pope Gregory VIII. 

The citv of Jerusalem taken by Saladin. 

1188 H Pope' Clement 111. 

1180 ilvUiiartf I. (C.cur de Lion) King of England. 

Tiie third Crusade under Richard 1. and Philip Augt!Stus. 

1190 HEJSRY VI. Emperor of Germany. 

1191 IT Pope Ca;lost!iius ill. 

1192 Richard I. defeats Saladin in the battle of Ascalon. 

Guy of Lusignan King of Jerusalem. 

1195 Alexius Angelas (the Tyrant) Emperor of the East. 

1198 PHILIP Emperor of Germany. 

H Pope Innocent III. 

1199 IJOlm King of England. ^ 
1200 

1202 The fourth Crusade sots out from Venice. 

. Constantinople taken by the French and Venetians. 

1203 Alexius and Murbzujjhlus Emperors of the East. 

1204 Baldwin I. Emperor of Constantinople, and TheodorC I. 

caris) Emjieror of Nicsea. 

The Inquisition established by Pope Innocent III. 

1206 Henry Empon.r of Consmntinople. 

1208 OTHO IV. Emperor of Germany. 

London incorpcratcd, obtains a charter for electing a Mayor and 

Magisl rates. 
1210 Cruside assiinst the Albigenses, under Simon de Alontfort. 
1212 FREDEFJCK II. Emperor of Germany. 

1214 Alexander II. King of Scotland. 

1215 Magna Cha.-ta signed by King John. 
1210 WtnVS 'II- KinjI "<■ England. 

Peter and John Ducas Emperors of the East. 

1219 Robert Emperor of tlie East. 

Damietta taken by ilie Crusaders 

1223 Lew^j VIII. Khiix of France. 
122(; ^ lope llonoriiis 111. 

.S7. Lr.wis IX. Kin<r of Fra?ice. 

1227 ^ Pope Gregory IX. 

'iwigiskan and the Tart.irs overrun the Empire of the Saraccns. 

1228 Baldwin II. French Empenr of ('on.stantinoplc. 
1234 The ln(|utsition committed to the Dominican Monks. 
1237 Russia brought uiid(;r subjectiuii by the Tartars. 
1241 ^ Pope Ctelestinus IV. 

1243 TT Pope Innocent IV. 

1248 The hAh Cnisade under St. L«wis. ,„ , 



500 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

AD 

1249 Alexander IIL King of Scotland. 
1231 COJ\'RAD IV. Emperor of Germany. 

1254 H Pope Alexander IV. 

Interregnum in tlie Empire of Germany, from the death of Conrad IV. 

in 1254, to the election of Rodolph in 1273. 

1255 Theodore II. (Lascaris) Emperor of I^icaea. 

I25S Rairdat taken by the Tartars. End of tiie Enjpire of the Saracens. 

1259 John.. (L-..scaris) Emperor of ]Nica.a. 

i2()0 Michael (PalceoUigus) Emperor of Kicnca. 

The FhigeUants preach Baptism by Brood. 

i2l)l 1i Tope Urban IV. 

The (ircijk Emperors ro'-ovcr Constantinople from the Frencli. 

12G3 The Norvve^rians invade Scoliand, and are de.'eated by Ale.\ander III 

in the battle of Largs. 
12(i4 l! Pope Clement IV. 

The Deputies of Boroughs first summoned to Parliament in England. 

Henry III. of England taken prisoner in the battle of Lewes. 

12t)5 Charles Count of' Anjou King of Sicily. 

1270 PhUii, 111. (J/ir. Bold) King of France. 

1271 '^ Pope Gregory X. 

1272 iStiiUaU^ I- (Longshanks) King of England. 

1273 nODOLPH (of llapiiburg) Emperor of Germany, first of the Austri- 

an Family. 
127G V Pope Innocent V. 

<!! Pope Adrian V. 

H Poue John -XXJ. 

1277 11 Pcjie Nicholas HI. 

I2SI IT Pope Martin IV. 

12.-i2 The Sicilian Vespers, when 8,000 FreneJi were massacred. 

1283 Audronicus I. (Palxologus) Enipcrorof the East. 

The coui|uest of Wales by Edward I. 

12rf5 1i Pope Honorius IV. 

Pliilip IV. (Ike Fair) King of France. 

128G l\fargaret (of Norway) Queen of Scotland. 

12.S-J H Pope Nicholas IV. 

■121!0 Intensirnum i-i Sco;land for two years. Competition between Biuce 

and iJaliol h.r the crown, decided by Edward 1. 
(201 Ptolemais taken by the Turks. End of the Crusades. 

j2i!2 John Baliol King of Scotland. 

.^/)OLPy/t'S (of Nassau) Emperor of Germany. 

IT Pi.pe Ctelestini.s V. 

«2'.)3 From this year there is a regular succession of English Parliaments. 

i2:)4 H Pope Boniface VHI. 

1205 Michael Androilicu.s Emperor of the East. 

12J(3 Interregnum in Scotland for eight years. Sir William Wallace nobly 

support.-; the liberty of his country, defeats the English at Sterling, 

and drives thein out of the kingdom. 
1208 Wallace chosen Regent of Scotland, defeated at Falkirk. 

ALBERT I. (of Austria) Emperor of Germany. 

Th(! present Turkish Empire begins under Ottoman in Bilhynia. 

1300 

inoi (iiiarrel between Philip the Fair and Pope Boniface VIII. 
1302 Comyn and Eraser defeat the English thrice in one day. 

The JMuriners Compass said to be discovered at Naples. 

1304 Wallace betrayed, delivered u^p, and put to death by Edward I. 

130& Hobeit L (Bruce) King of Scotland- 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 501 

AD. 

1307 The Establishment of the Swiss Republics. 

SEtJtocrVtl n. King of England 

].%8 HEXRY VII. EmptMorof Geiinany. 

II Pope Ciemenl V. 

Th(! onat of lh<> Popes transferred to Avignon for seventy years. 

1:510 Rhodes taken by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. 
i:5l I Pierce Gaveston, favourite of Edward !(., put to death. 
\'M2 The Knights Temphirs suppressed by Philip the Fair. 
1;5I4 The Scots under Robert Bruce defeat the English under Edward IL 
at Bannockburn. 
— LEWIS V. (of Bavaria) Emperor of Germany. 

Lewis X. (Hutm) King of Fiance. 

\'.\\b John King of France. 
1316 H Pope John XXII. 

Philip V. (the Long) King of France. 

i:?yO Andronicus II. (Paiwologus) Emperor of the East. 
1321 Charles IV. {the Fair) King of France. 
1327 JStltotrrtr III. King of En-land. 
13^:^ Ph.ilij) VI. {of Valois) King of France. 

1329 David II. King of Scotland. Randolph Ea.rl of Murray Regent, 
1331 The Teutonic Knigiits settle in Prussia. 

I33y Edward Baliol, assisted by Edward III., is crowned at Scone King of 
Scots, but is soon driven out of the kingdom. 

1333 Casimir III. (the Great) King of Poland. 

1334 T( Pope Benedict XII. 

13-10 Gimpowder invented by Swartz, a Monk of Cologne. 

Oil Painting invented by John Van Eyke. 

1341 .John V. (PaUcologus) Emperor of the East. 

John Cantacuzenos, his governor, usurps the throne. 

\M-2 1i Pope Chmienl VI. 

134() Battle of Ciessy won by Edward III. and the Black Prince over tlis 
French. 

Battle of Durham, in which David II. of Scotland is taken prisoner. 

1347 CH.iRLES IV. Emperor of Germany. 

(^ola Rienzi assumes the Government of Rome. 

l:5r>0 The Order of the Garter instituted by Edward III. 

Peter (the Cruel) King of Castile. 

13r,l John II. King of France. 

13.')*> Ti Pone Innocent VI. 

The Turks first enter Europe 

l.JoG The Battle of Poictiers, in which John II. King of France is taken 

pris(mer, and afterwards brought to London. 
13fi2 IT Pope Urban V. 

The Law-pleadings in England changed from French to English. 

134(i Charles V. King of France. 
1370 Tf Pope Gregory XI. 

— Ilobert II. King of Scotland. 

1377 The Seat of the Popes removed back from Avignon to Rome. 

iiilCljartl II. King of England. 

VVicklitfe's Doctrines propagated in England. 

1378 The Schism of the double Popes at Rome and Avignon begins and 

contmues thirty-eiiilit years. 

— II Pope Urban VI. of Rome 

T Pope Clement VII. of Avignon. 

1378 IVEXCESUJUS Emperor of Germany, deposed in 1400. 
13a0 Charles VI. King of Francr. 

' Tamerlane invades and subdues Chorassar. 

13d I Wat Tyler's and Jack Straw's Insurrection in England. 



602 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

A.D. 

l^ril Peace between Venice and Genoa. 

P.ills of F.xcliiinge first used in JZn-jland. 

!:?s;? Cannon first used hy \hv luiglisii in llm dofcnce of Calais. 

KJd'J I'hilip llie Bcikl, iJiilu; of Bui<,Muidy, siiufcuils to tlin EarldDin of 

ri:ni.(lers. 
I'.tfii'y Tiuiniriune subdues G(;oriria. 

l;{.Sd Hattic cf Oti.uhurn Ijutween Percy (Iloispnr) and Douglas. 
l;5ri'J y l'ui)e nonifauo IX. 

i:?:ti) llobnrt III. Uinjj of Scotland 
l:;i)l M;)nuci II. (Piil.T.oiogus) Emperor of tJie E:ist. 
i:;:i-2 Tho rape <.f VUmH H(,pe disLovered bv tbe Portuguese. 
r.VM 'I'hc Jews banished Ironi Franco by Charles VI. 

1i Pope Benedict A-JJI. 

i:{!l.") Si^ri^iiniud Kin;,' of llinigary defeated by Pajazet I. 

i:i<H 'I'.-iinerlane subdues part of Ilindiostan, and takes Delhi. 

ia!):> ^}tilVV> iV. King of En-land. 

1400 

I iOvJ Bajazel is taken prisoner by Tamerlane in the battle of Angoria. 

Battle of Ilalidoan Hill, in wbieb tbe Scots are defeated. 

14():{ Battle of Shrewsbti-y, in which Hotspur is killed. 
110.1 "11 Pope Innocent VII. 
1405 Death of Taniorlane. 

NOG .Janins I. King of Scotland. 

^ Pop.; Gregory XII. 

14U:) CoiuH-il of Pisa, wlune Pope Gregory is deposed. 
II B<ip»^ Alexander V. 

1410 JOS.'iB (Marquis of Brandenbnrgh) Emperor of Germany. 
' 1i P(;pe John XXIII. 

1411 SIGI'iMUjVD Emperor of Germany. 

The University of St. Andrews in Scotland founded. 

1413 flyaXVS V. King of England. 

1414 Council of Constance, in which two Popes were deposed, and Popo- 

doui remained vacant ne-ar three years. 

1415 Henry V. defeats the French at Agincourt. 

Jo'mi IIuss condemned by the Council of Constance for Heresy and 

burnt. 
1410 Jerome of Prague condemned by the same Council, and burnt. 
1417 H Pope Martin V. 

Paper first m.ide from linen rags. 

14:20 The Island of Madeira discovered by the Portuguese. 

14-11 John \'I. (Pal.x-ologus) Emperor of the East. 

14:22 Ainurath besieges Constantinople. 

ll^tinS VI. King of England. . 

a,'nrhs I'll. King- of Fnn-cc. 

James I.King of "Scots liberated from captivity by the English. 

j4'2.j The Coint ol" Session in Scotland instituted by James I. 

14:28 Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans, compels the English to raise the 

sioiic of that town. 
i43l 1i Pope Eugene IV. 

Rise of the Medici family at Florence. 

1430 Paris recovered by the French from the English. 

1437 Ja>nes II. King of Scotland. 

1438 Jl.iiERT II. Em,!ieror of Germany. 

143i) Peunion of the Greek and Latin Churches. 

The Pragmatic Sanction established in France. 

1440 FREDERICK III. Emperor of Germany. 

Invention of the art of Printing by John Guttenberg at Strasbnrg. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 5fi« 

AD. 

M44 La'lislaus King of Hungary killctl in battle with the Turks. 
; M4r> C'onstantinc (Pala'ologus) Emperor ol' tlio East. 
14l(> Gnnit Inundation of the sea in Holland. 
1447 II I'ope Nicliohis V. 

Rise of tlie Sf(,iza Family at Milan. 

14.'j3 Coustanlinoplc taken by the Turks Extinction or the Cistern 
Empire ok the Romans. 

End of tlie English government in France. 

1455 H Pope Calixtus HI. 

Rattle of St. Albans, where Henry VI. is taken prisoner bv the Duke 

of York. 
1 1.58 II Rope I'ius H. (.-Eneas Sylvius.) 
1459 Tlic art of Engraving on copper invented. 

14G0 J a'fnes HI. King of Scotland. 

Rattle of Wakefield, in which tlie Duke of York is killed. 

14()1 ?^tJll)aCtf IV. Kin- of England. 

Lewis XI. King of France. 

1470 Henry VI. restored to tlie thror;e of England. 

1471 RattN) of Rarnct, where Warwick is killed. Rattle of TewksLurj, 

where the Lanc;istrians are totally defeated. 

Edward IV. restored. Prince Edward of Lancaster basely murderei' 

l)v Clarence and Gloucester. Death of Henry VI. 

^ Pope Sixtus IV. 

1474 The Cape de V<Md Islands discovered by the Portuguese. 

1475 Edward IV. invades France. Peace of Pccquigni purchased by tt 

French. 

1470 Fer<linand and Isabella unite the kingdoms of Arragon and Castile. 

Russia freed fr(uii subjection to the Tartars by John Rasilwitz. 

1483 Charks Vtll. Kimr of France. 

TlStitotlL'tJ V. King of En-laud. Duke of Gloucester Protector. 

f^dward V. and his iu-othcr inurcicrcd. 

iifdjariJ in. Kin-,' of England. 

14a4 1i Pope Innocent VIII. 

1485 Rattle of Rosworth, in which Richard HI. is killed. 
— ^^nW^ VIL King of England, first of the house of Tudor. Union 
of the houses of York and Lancaster. 

1488 «J-»mcs IV. King of Scotland. 

1491 Granada taken by Ferdinand and Isabella. End of the kingdom of 
the Moors in .Sti.iin. 

1402 IT Pope Alexander V^I. (Rorgia.) 

Hispaniola and Tiilja .iiscu-, en'd bv Christopher Columbus. 

1403 MJX/MILI.LV I i',n|,rr,M- of iivvnuiuy. 
1494 Expedition of Charles \'1H. into iNaples. 

Algebra first known in Europe. 

. .\nierica discovered by Colnniijns. 

1497 Tlie Portnsucsc, inaU'-r Vasco de Gaina, double the Cape of Good 

Hope and sail t(; the East Indies. 
1 108 Leinis Xlf. iunir of France. 

Savaiujrala burnt by Pope Alexander VI. for preaching against the 

vices of the clergy. 
1409 Lewis XII. lakes lidssession of the Milanese. 

Sebastian Cabot ianils in Morth America. 

1500 

- Rrnzil discovered by the Portuguese. 

Maximilian divides Germany into six Circles, and adds four more in 

1512. 
1603 U Pope Pius IIL 



504 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

AD 

J503 II Pope Julius n. 

Battle of Cerizoles, in which the French lose Naples. 

]:j04 Philip I. King of Spain. — 1506 Jane his Q,ucen. 

1507 Madagascar discovered by tlie Portuguese. 

1508 League of Cambray against the Venetians. 

1509 fl^CUrg VIII. King of England. 

Batllc of Agnadello, May 14. 

151 J Cuba contiiicred by the Spaniards. 
15J3 Battle of Flodden, fatal to the Scots 

aJ' ames V. King of Scotland. 

IT Pope Leo X. 

1515 Frtmcis I. King of France. 

15 IG Charles I. (Emperor Charles V.) King of Spain. 

Biirharossa seizes the Kingdom of Algiers. 

1517 The lleformation in Germany begun by Lutlier. 

The Turks put an end to the reign of the Mamelukes ii Egypt. 

1518 Leo X condemns Luther's Doctrines. 

1519 CHARLES V. Emperor of Germany. 

• Fernando Cortez engages iu the conquest of Mexico. 

I5',20 Sweden and Denmark united. 

. Massacre at Stockholm by Christiern II. and Archbisho; rrollo. 

1521 H Pope Adrian VI. 

Gustiivus Vasa King of Sweden. 

Cortez completes the conquest of Mexico. 

1522 The first Voyage round the World performed by a ship (\ Migdlan'a 

squadron. 

1523 Soiyman the ]\Iagnificent takes Belgrade. 
H Pope Clement VII. 

1521 Sweden and Denmark embrace the Protestant faith. 

1525 Battle of Pavia, in which Francis I. is taken prisoner by Oj»i-'c« V. 

152G Treaty of Madrid between Charles V. and Francis 1., w.Vu the l^AflT 

is set at liberty. 
'1527 Rome taken and plundered by Charles V. 

Pizarro and Dalmagro invade the Empire of Peru 

1528 Revolution of Genoa by Andrea Doria. 

Gustavus Eriscon crcnvned King of Sweden. 

152'J Diet of Sp-res against the Huguenots, tJien first termed r-ff'*8lanta. 

Peace of Cambray, August 5 

1530 The League of Snuilcald between the Protestants. 

1531 Michael Servetus burnt ft)r heresy at Geneva. 

1532 The Treaty of Nuremberg, August 2. 

The Court of Session in Scotland new modeled hy James "^ 

1534 The Rcformntion in England. 

V Pope Paid III. 

Barbarossa seizes the Kingdom of Tunis. 

Jack of Leyden heads tliH Auabaptisls at Munster. 

1535 The Society of the Jesuits instituted by Ignatius Loyola. 
Expedition of Charles V. ngain»t Tunis. 

1538 Treaty of Nice between Cluu-les V. and Francis 1. 

15 10 Dissolution of the Monasteries in England by Henry VIII 

1542 Mary Queen of Scotland. 

1544 The French defeat the troops of Charles V. in the battle of '^p >sujles. 

The treaty of Crepi. 

1545 The Council of Trent begins, which continued eighteen years. 
154 i Caidinal Beaton, of St. Andrew's, ajsassinated. 

1547 Fiesco's Consjiiracy at G<!noa. 

- The Battle of .Mulberg, in which the Protestants are uefeate(?, ?*id the 

Elector of Saxony taken prisoner. 

- iSDltimrlr VI. King of England. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 505 

A.D. 

ir.17 Henry If. King of France. ' 

\'>\S 'J'he liiloriin graiiied by Charles V. to the Protestanta. 

ir,r,() II Pope Julius III. 

Ii>'y2 Tli<; TiT.iiy of Passau between Charles V. and the Electorof Sa.\on}', 

fitr the lislablisiimuiit of Lutheranisisi. 
ir)53 lilarg Queen of Eunland. 

I>:nly Jam; Grey beheaded. 

1555 -iT Po|)e Marcrllus If. 
V Pope Paul IV. 

Many IVisho|)s burnt in England by Mary. 

I->5() ^'EliD^^^.ri^'D l. Kmperor of Germany. 
Philip il. King of Spain. 

1357 Piiilip II. defeats the French at St. Quintin. 

15.-.S 25U?aiJCti} Queen of England. 

1.05:) i; Popo Pms IV. 

■ Friincln II. Kinif of France. 

Tn;aly of Caltoau-Canibresis. 

I5';() Chnrl<:d IX. Khi-r of France. 

C(ins|iiraiy of Anihoise formed by the party of Conde against thai ti 

Guise. Bejfinning of the Civil Wars in Franco. 

Tiie Refuiiialion completed in Scotland by John Knox. 

I5til Mary Ciut'en of Scots arrives in Scotland from France. 
l.'/(>'.2 ISattUi of Dreu.v. Victory of the Guises over Conde. 
l.'XM M.iXIMlLljy H. Emperor of Germany. 

l.")(i() V P..po I'iiis VI. 

Uevolt of the Netlw^rlands from Philip 11. 

J5ti7 The Didie of Alva sent by Philip to the Netherlands. 

«i ame.s VI. King of Scotland. 

!.'>(;.-; M;,rv Queen of Scots flees to England for protection. 

I'hilip II. pi'.lslo death hi.s son Don Carlos. 

l.'.(*i) Tlu- r.arl of iViurray, Uejiont of Scotland, assassinated by Hamilton. 
Tilt; buttles of Jarnac and Moncontour in France, in which thuProt* 

e>lants ;iro defe.ited. 
1571 Naval Victory at Lepanlo, where the Turks are defeated by Don Joht 

of Au.-itria. 
1.57-:i ^ Pope (iregory XIII. 

'i'l.e Massacre o'f Si. Bartholomew, August 24. 

1571 Ihnry III. King of France. 

Socinus ])ropagati;s his opinions. 

— — Don Sch.istian King of Portugal invades Africa. 
1570 nODOLPHUS 11. Emperor of Germany. 

H'l'ejAaguc in France formed against the Protestants. 

1570 Co'mi'nenceinent of the Republic of Holland, by the union of UtrecU 
1580 Piiilip H. takes possession of Portugal. 

The World circumnaviga-ted by Sir Francis Drake. 

17>-j2 The New Style introduced into Italy by Pope Gregory XIII., the 5lh 
of «)ctolM'r being counted the 15tli. 

1554 Williiim I. Prince of Orange murdered at Dclft. 

Virginia dis(;overed by Sir Walter Raleigh. 

1555 1[ Pope Si.xtus V. 

15S7 Mary Queen of Scots beheaded at Fotheringay. 

lo-^rt Destruction of the Spanish Armada by the Engli.-'h. 

I.5b'.l Henry HI. of France murdereil by Jaquez Clement. 

lltnr'ij IV. ('lie Great) King of Frame. 

|.5'.M} Til,, battle of Ivrv, which ruins the league in France. 

11 Pop.! IMan VH. 

- - 11^ Pope Gregory XIV. 

15J1 The University of Dublin erected. 

H Pope Innocent IX. 

Uu 64 



gjjg CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

AD. . . , 

J5i)iJ Presbyterian Church Government established in Scotl&nd, 

H Pope Cloaient VIII. 

15!)4 'J'he Bank of England incorporated. 

15i»8 Edict oi Nuntes/toleratin;^ the Protestants in France. 

Peace of Vcrins concluded between France and Wpain. 

Philip ill. King of «pain. 

I 'J'yrono's rebellion in Ireland. 
1600 

(Jowrie's Conspiracy in Scotland. 

■ The Earl of Essex beheaded. 

The English East India Company established. 

1()U2 Decimal Arithmetic invented at Bruges. 

l(JO;i Jl^fllllC.Q 1- King of Great Britain. Union of the crowns of England 

iiiul Scotland. 
loO") The Gunpowder Plot discovered. 

It Pope Paul V. 

ITiOd Galileo discovers the Satellites of Jupiter. 

Aniiiuius pro])agiites his opinions. 

UilO llcmy IV. of France murdered by llavaillac. 

Lewis III. King of France. 

The Moors expelled from Spain by Philip III. 

liutison's Bay discovered. 

KU 1 r)ai-oncts fust created in England by James I. 

lul'> M.m'HIAS Emperor of Germany. 

lt)!4 Lcr^siiitiinis iuveiited by Napier. 

Kilti SeltJemerit of Virginia by Sir Walter Raleigh. 

lUlri The Syncd of Dort in Holland. 

XCtVd Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood by Dr. llarvcy. 

FEIiDLV/iAD II. Emperor of Germany. 

Vauiiii burnt at Thoulouse (or Atheism. 

1020 The Battle of Prague, by which the Elector Palatine loses his Elec- 
torate. 

The English make a settlement at Madras. 

. Mavarre united to France. 

IGlJl Philip IV. King of Spain. 

Ba'.avia, in the Inland of Java, built and settled by the Dutch. 

V. Pope Gregory XV. 

mi:i -il Pope Urban Vlll. 

JGy5 (Ki)arlC.y I- King of Great Britain. 

The Island of Barbadoes the first English settlement in the West 

Indies. 
K'Ju l.r;iy,iu' t)C ilie Protestant Princes against the Emperor. 
](),« (iualavus AdolphusJOUed in the battle of Lutzen, y& • 2. / JT. 

Ciinsllna. Queen of Sweden. 

l(i:?r> 'i'lic Frencii Academy instituted. 

IG'.j; FERDLN^^ND III. Emperor of Germany. 
1038 Uagdat taken by the Turks. 

Tlie Solemn League and Covenant established in Scotland. 

1010 John lluke of Braganza recovers the kingdom of Portugal. 

1041 The Irish Rebellion, and Massacre of ihe^ Protestants, October 23. 

The Earl of Sualiord beheaded. 

1642 Beginning of the Civil War in England. The battle of Edgehill, 

(.)ctober 23. 
lC4.'i 1x7016 XI y. King of France. 

Ann of Austria Regent of France 

.Archbishop Laud condemned by the Commons, end beheaded. 

I()'i4 H Pope Ii.nocent X. 

. Revolution in China by the Tartars. 

1645 Charles I. defeated in the battle of Naseby. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 507 

A. D. 

Ms4»i The Pence of Wnstplinlia. The Civil War of ilic Frondo at Paris. 

('iini!i|iiii\\i';iiiii 111' Kiii;laii(l tn'mns. 

iC,:.() The A;,t;viiil.> ol' MiiiJtiV.sc pill io ilf.".til. 

I5:;nlii of Dmil'Mr C<)vcii:uit<;rs deleatcd by Cromwell. 

KmI TI..! ualll.; ..r \Voni;slfr Wdii In- Crotnweli. 
i(i.V> 'I ii»; liisi War betw<;i;n jIk; English and Dutch. 

K)")-} Kiid of ihc Coiuiiioiiwualtli of England. Oliver Croinwell Lord Pro- 
lijctor. 

'J'lie ICiiglisii, under Adir.iraJ Ponn, take possession of Jamaica. 

(-"hrisiiiia Ciiiei;ii cf iSv\ eden resigns the Crown to Charles X. 

i'iV> i; |>u[„. Al.-\andcr VIJ. 

U>^<6 LKOrOlJJ I. Emperor of Germany. 

Kici'aid Croiiiwell Lord I'rotector of England. 

1 <)"'!' 'i'lu; I'liace of the Pyrenees between France and Spain. 

KillO CiTljtirlCS II. King of Great Britain. Restoration of Monarchy. 

TliH Pi;a<e of Oliva between Sweden, Denmark, and Poiand. 

KiC'J 'I'lie RoyaJ Society instiiuled in England. 

Ii;<i;j OiKirier of Carolina, aii<l a colony settled soon after. 

Tiie French Academy of Inscriptions insthuted. 

!liti4 'I'lie second Dutch War begins. 

IIKi.") Charles II. King of S|)ain. 

(ireai Plagne in London. 

ICiK) (I'rcal Eire in London. 

'i'iu; .Academy of Science instituted in France. 

Sabaiei Levi, in Turkey, pretends to be the Messiali. 

iGo7 riir) P(;aci! of Breda, which confirms to the English Pennsylvania, 
J\ew-V ork, and New-Jersey. 

II Piipe Clement IX. 

]'r,S The Peace of Ai,\-Ia-Chapelle. 

|!''i>!> The Island of Candla taken by the Turks. 

]i^7j) 1i Pope Clement X. 

I'j7'.i Lewis XIV. conquers great part of Holland. 

-— The De Witts put to death in Holland. 

^(574 John Sobieski King of Poland. 

IU7(! i; Pope; Innocent XL 

lii7rf The Pea.e of Nimeguen, July 31. 

The Habeas Corpus act passed in England. 

H,7;> The Lung Parliamt'iit of Charles 11. dissolved. 

Hi,-)l peter the Great C/.ar of Muscovy. 

Itirt:? ExecHiion of Lord Rnssel, July 2i. 

Execution of Algernon Sydney, December 7. 

The Siege ol' Vienna by the Turks raised by John Sobicski. 

ICdr, ^f)«imeS II. King of Great Britain. 

Revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Lewis XIV. 

Di.ke of Monmouth beheaded. 

ItidG The Newtonian Philosophy first published in England. 

The League of Augsburg against France. 

lOeB Resolution in Britain. King James abdicates the throne, Decein> 

ber 2:i. 
KW ffSlllHam and S^ntS King and Queen of Great Britain. 

E|.isco))acy abolished in Scotland by King William. 

^ Pope Alexander VIH. 

)f>'.tO Battle of tho Boyne, July 1. 
IWM II Pope Innocent XH. 

WJii Bat :le <vf La Hogue. Alay 19. 

- — The Massa.;^ of Glencoe in Scotland, January 31. O. S. 

Biiitle of Steedkirk. King William defeated by Luxemburg, Juij 2 J. 

• — Hanover made the ninth Electorate of the Empire. 



£08 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

A.D. 

1(595 Namiir lakftn hy King William, June 25. 
IGL*? peace of Riswick conciiulod, Sseiueinbcr 11 

Charles XU. Kin;; of Sweden. 

\{j'.)9 Peace of Cailovitz coiicludeJ., January 26. 
1700 

Pliilip V. King of Spain. 

Ti I'ope Clement XI. 

1701 Deaili of James II. at St. Germain's. 

1702 ^nU0 Queen of Gieat Britain. Wai against Franrc and Spain. 
The English and Dutch destroy the French Fleet at Vigo. 

Tile French send colonies to t!ie jMississipju. 

1703 (Jihraltar taken by Admiral Uooke, July ^4. 

1704 Battle of Blenheim. The French defeated by Marlborough and 

Prince Eugene, Angnst 2. 

Pete.-- the Great foinuls St. Petersburg!!. 

1705 The Er.glish take Barcelona. 

JOSEPH I. Emperor of Germany. 

I70G Battle of llanulics. Tlie French defeated by the Duke of Marlbo- 

rough, May 12. 
The Treaty of Union between England and Scotland, signed July 22 

1707 The battle of Almanza. The French and Spaniards, under the Duke 

of Berwick, defeat the allies, April 14. 

1708 Battle of Oudenarde. The French defeated by Marlborough and 

Eugene, Jnne 30. 

Minorca taken by General Stanhope, September 18. 

1709 Battle of Pultowa. Charles XII. defeated by Czar Peter, June 30. 

Battle of ftlalplaquet. The French defeated by Marlb». rough and 

Eugene, September 11. 
1711 CH.iRLES VI. Emperor of Germany. 

1713 The Peace of Utrecht signed March 30. 

1714 ^fOrflt I- Elector bf Hanover, King of Great Britain. 

1715 Lr.wis Xy. King of France. 

The Rcbeliion of Scotland. Battle of Slieriff-muir, November 13. 

171G Prince Eugene defeats the Turks at Petcruur.idiii. 

1718 Charles XII. of Sweden killed at the sieg* of Frcdcrickshall. 

3721 H Pope Innocent XIII. 

1724 IT Pope Benedict XI II. 

1725 Death of Peter the Groat, Czar of Muscovy. Catharine Empress. 
172G Great Eartlupiake at Palermo, August 21. 

1727 C5fC0rflf II. King of Great Britain. 

1727 Treaty of Copenhagen betwcQU Great Britain and Denmark. 

The Spaniards besiege Gibraltar, May 20. 

1728 Treaty T)etween Great Britain and Holland, May 27. 

The Congress of Soissons, June 14. 

1729 Treaty of Seville between Great Britain, France, and Spain, Novem- 

ber 9. 

1730 U Pope Clement XlI. 

Cnristian VI. King of Denmark. 

^ The Persians under Kouli-Khan defeat the Turks. 

173rTreaty between Great Britain, the Emperor, and King of Spbin, 
July 22. 

1733 The Jesuits expelled from Paraguay, January. 

Frederick HI. King of Poland. 

1734 Commercial Treaty between Great Britain and Russia, December 2. 

1735 The French defeat tlie Imperialists in Italy. 
173(5 Peace between Spain and Austria. 

Kouli-Khan (Nadir-Schah) proclaimed King of Persip, September 29. 

1737 War declared between the Emperor and the Turks, July I& 

1738 Tiie Russians invade the Crimea. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 509 

A.I). 

173i) Nadir- Sclial' conquers the j^rcatcr part of the Mogul Empire. 

Treaty butweoii (Jrcat Britain and D.inmark. 

Peate bt'tweoii tlic Ern|>ornr and the Tnrks, August 21. 

I'«;ace between Russia and the Tinhs, November. 

1740 Frc.lcriclv III. (the (Jicat) Kin- of Prussia. 

^ Pope BetKi.lict XIV. 

War |jet\v(!en Pohmd and Hungary. 

17»ll War declaiod between Russia and Sweden. 

Tlie Pnissiaurf masters of Sih^sia, October 20. 

1742 Peace l)etwpen Austria and Prussia, June 11. 

L)<^tlnsive Alliance between Creat Britam and Pnis.sia, November 19. 

CIUIILES Vtl. (of Bavaria) Emperor of Germany. 

17J3 Delt;nsive Alliance between Grejit Britain and Russia, February. 

War in Germany between the British, Hungarians, French, and 

Aiisirian.n. 

Tin; French defeated by the allies at Dettingen, June G. 

17I-1 War declared in Great Britain against France, March 31. 

The King of Prusi;ia takes Prague. 

Commodoie Anson completes liis Voyage round the World. 

17'!.') FILi.XCia I. (of Lorraine) Emperor of Geririany. 

tiua<ljuple Alliance between Britaiu, Austria, Holland, and Poland, 

The allied army def.'uted by the French at Fontenoy, April 30. 

I-ouisbiH-;:; and Cape Breton taken by the British troops, June G. 

'I'lie Rebellion lueaks out in Scotland, July. 

Treaty of Dresden between Pru.ssia, Poland, Austria, and Saxony, 

December 25. 
17-JG Fer.linand VL King of Spain. 

Frederick V. King oi Denmark. 

Ci 111 lit Sa.xo takes Brussels and Antwerp. 

Vi(tnr\ of Culloden, \vhich puts an end to the Rebellion in Scotland, 

April k;. 
. Lorcis r>.ilmerino and Kilmarnock beheaded, August 18. 

(^oinii .'Saxi' (lel'ents the allies at Raucoux, October li. 

Dreaili'iil Earlliiinake at Lima in Peru, October 17. 

17'17 Kouli-Khan murdered. Revolution in Persia. 

17'1'S Peace of A;\-la-Clia])elio between Great Britain, France, Spain, Aus 

tri;i, Sardinia, and Holland, October 7. 
17.-)0 Josei.l) King of Portugal. 

Academy of Sciencc^s foimded at Stockholm. 

17.')! Adoipluis of Hulstein King of Sweden. 

Peace between Spain and I'ortugal. 

17.")2 New Style introduced in Britain, September, 3 reckoned 14. 
17.");{ The British Museum established in Montague house. 
1751 (I'reat Eruption of Minn. 

Great Earthquake at Constantinople and Cairo, September 2. 

17.5.'> Lisbon destroyed by an Eartiiquake, November 1. 

17r)() War declared between Great Britain and France, May 18. 

I7.">7 The Kinir of Prussia coiiquers Silesia. 

nr.M 1! Po-pe Clement AIH. 

17.')!) The French defeated by the allied army at Minden, August 1. 

Charles HI. King of Spain. 

• The .!eRui*s expelled from Portugal, September 3. 

Gt !'er:il Wolfe takes Quebec in Canada, September 17. 

1760 Moiuieal and Canada taken by the British, Septembers. 

(iSCOrflC III. Kinff of Great Britain, October 25. 

noa Peter 111. Emperor of Russia. 

The Jesuits banished from F'rance, August. 

• Peace between Great Britain and France at Fonlainebleau, Novero 

ber3. ,^ 

Uu2 



r,10 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

A. D. 

17(53 Poaoe bctwcpn Great Britain, France, and Spain, at Paris, February 10. 

Cutliariue li. Empress of Jlussia. 

I7G4 Staiiisluiis IL King of Poland. 

Ilyron"? Discoveries in tl'.c Soiitii Seas. 

17()5 JOSEPH II. Emperor of Gcnuany. 

ITO'o 'J'lio Jesuits expelled from Bohemia and Denmark. 

Cliri.^ti;.n VIL Kir.g of Deiniark. 

17G7 Tlie Jesuits exjielled from Spain,. Genoa, and Venice. 

Discoveries of Wiillis and Carteret in the Sotth Seas. 

17(38 Royal Academy of Arts established at London. 

Tlie Jesuits expelled fron-, Naples, Malla, and Parma. 

Bougainville's Diseoverics in the South Seas. 

I7(i!) ^ Pope Clement X[V. 

Cook's first Discoveries in the South Seas. 

Corsica taken by the French, June 13. 

1770 Earthquake at St. Domingo. 

1771 (iustavus HI. King of Swedc-n. 
177::i Revolution in Sweden, A.igust 10. 

Poland dismeml)(!red by Russia, Prussia, and Au.«tria. 

1773 (Jouk'd second Voyage and Discovfries. 

The Society )f Jesuit? suppressed by the Pope's bull, AugUbt 25. 

1~74 Lewis Xy[. King of France. 

1775 Battle of Bunkei's "Uill in North America, June 17. 

1776 11 Pope Pius VL 

The Americans declare their Independence, July 4. 

1777 Mary Q,ueen of Portugal. 

Surrender of the British Armv under Burgovne at Saratoga, in the 

state of New-York, October '17. 
1773 League between the French and Americans, October 30. 

1779 Peacre between the Imperialists and Prussians, May 13. 

Great Eruption of Vesuvius, August S. 

Siege of (Jibraltar by the Spaniards, July. 

Captain Cook killed in the Island of Owyhee. 

1780 Great Riots in London on account of the Popish Bill, June 2. 

War declared between Great Britain and Holland, December 20. 

I7dl Surrender of the British Army under Cornwallis to the Americans and 

Fren<-h at Yorktovvn in Viri^iuia, October 16. 

1782 Sir <;. Rodney defeats the French tleei off Dominica, April 12. 

1783 Peace between Great Britain, Fnuice, and Spain, and the Independ 

ence of America declared, January 20. 

1784 Peace between Great Britain and Holland, May J!;4. 

178.J Treaty of Alliance between Ausliia, France, and Holland, Novem 

her'.). 
1780 Frederick IV. King of Prussia. 

1788 Defensive Alliance between Ensland and Holland, April 25. 
17.-(9 Selim III. (irand Seisnior, April. 

(leorgo Washington first President of the LTnitcd States, April. 

Tie Bastille at Paris taken and destroyed, and the Governor tnaesa- 

cred, July 14. 
1790 M(uiastic Eslabiisliments suppressed in France, February 13. 

Warconimcu.ed in India with Ti|)poo Sultan, May 1. 

l.nOPOLD II. Emi)erorof Gefmany. 

1792 FRAKCl:-: 11. Emperor of Germany. 

(iustavus HI. Kiu^of Sweden assassinated by Ankerstmm, March 20. 

.- — (iustavus IV. King of Sweden. Duke of Suderinania Regent in his 

minority. 

T!ie Thu'iijeries attacked. The King and Queen of Franco fake 

refuge m the National Assembly. The Swiss guards niussacrud by 
the popu':i,-,e, August 10. 

The Royal Family of Franco imprisoned in the Temple, August 14. 



.OHRONQLOGI€AA. TA8LE. 611 

A.l). 

«Fr!)2 A rfrendful niassacre of the stiite-prisoners at Paris, September 2, 3. 

The iNiitioiial C'lnvcnlioii is constituted, tlicKing dcposcl, and France 

<ic'(i.in>d a Kepublii;. Septeinbor 21. 

Savoy incor|)orated wiili the French Republic, November 27. 

'^—' 'l^exvis XV'l. is In-ouglit to trial, and answers each article of accusation, 
'£>«;i.einber 14. 

i7'Xi Lewis XVI. condemned to death i)y a majority of five voices, Janua- 
ry 17, and bcli(;a(h'd, January 21. 

Riis.^ia declares war against France, Jannaiy 31. 

The rrench Convention declares war against England and Holland, 

February 1. 

Queen ol""Frf-noe condemned to death and beheaded, October 15. 

17!>-1 Robespierre, with his chief partisans, guillotined, July 28. 

"UaS The Siadtholder takes refuge in England. Holland overrun by the 
French, January. 

Lvotis bombarded, laid in ruins, and all its loyal inhabitants massacred, 

^M;.y. 

I.enss XVII. died in prison at Paris, June 8. 

The Cape of Tiood Hope taken by the British, September IG. 

li.;li;iuni incorporated with the French Republic, September 30. 

Stanislaus II. resigns the Crown of Poland. The kingdom divided 

b(!tween Russia, Austria, and Prus.=ia, November 25. 
17!)G The French overrim and plunder Italy. 

■ Death of Catharine 11. Paul Emperor of Russia, November 17. 

17!)7 John Adams President of the United States, March 4. 

Tiie Dutch Fleet beaten and captured by Admiral Duncan, Octo- 

ber 11. 
1798 The Papal Government suppressed by the French. The Pope quits 
Rome, February 20. 

Tveland in 0])en rebellion, May, June, «S:c. 

Admiral Nelson destroys the French Fleet in the battle of the Nile, 

August 1. 

Tlie Swiss finally defeated, and their Independence abolished, Sep- 
tember 1!). 

1709 Seriuiiapatam taken by General Harris, and Tippoo Sultan killed, 
May 4. 

DeaMi of Pope Pius VI., September. 

A ll(!vn!ution at Paris. Bonaparte declared First Consul, Decem- 

ber 25. 
1800. 

Union of Britain and Ireland. 

. Bonaparte defeats the Austrians in the battle of Marengo in Italv, 

J.me 14. 

Arnn.stiee between the French and Austrians in Germany, July 15. 

The new Pope, Puis VII., restored to his government by the Emperor, 

July 2.5. 
Malta taken by the British, Septembers. 

1801 First niHcting of the Imperial Parliament of Britain and Ireland, 

January. 
— T- Thonnis Jefferson President of the United States, March 4. 
— - Death of Paul. Alcvander I. Emperor of Russia, March 23 

Battle of Copenhagen, in which the Danes are defeated by Lord Nel. 

son. April 3. 

1802 The Catluilic Religion re-established in France, March. 

Treaty cf peac.e between Britain and France. 

Ti:e King of Sardinia resigns his crown to his brother, July. 

Benaparte (ieciared Chief Consul for life, July. 

T- — \Var between France, and Germany, and Russia, in which the French 
are successful. 

1803 War between Britain and France 



512 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

A. D. 

1801 Emperor of Germany assumes the title of Emperor of Austria, A«« 

jrtist 11. 

Boiiuparte crowned Emperor of France, December 2. 

1603 IJoiiupailo Kin.<r of Italy, ftiarcli. 

Lord Nolson defeats tlie combined fleets of France and Spain oiTCape 

Trafalgiir, takes or destroys 19 sliij)s of the line, and is killed in lli« 
battle, October iJl. 

War bei'.veen England and Spain. 

IbOG Louis Bona|)arte crowned King of Holland, June. 

The British Parliament vole tiie Abolition of the Slave Trade, Juno 10. 

Francis II resijjns the ollice of F.nipcror of Germany, August 2. 

War between France and Prussia. 

IJattle of Jena and total defeat r.f tiie Prussians, October 14. 

1H07 War between France and Russia, in which the French are succerafiil. 

Cojienhagen taken by the British, end the Danish fleet carried to Eng- 

land. 

Treaty of Peace between France, and Russia, and Prussia. 

Id08 Abolition of the Slave Trade in the United States of America, Janua- 
ry I. 
War between Russia and Sweden. 

Bonuparte seizes Portugal, and the Royal Family flee to Brazil. 

B ir.aiiarte seizes the Royal Family of Spain. War between France 

and S|)ain. 
ISOn Battle of Corunna, January 16. 

Fall '.f Saragossa, February *2l. 

.jaines JMadison President of the United States, RLnrch 4. 

Uusinvus IV. King of Sweden deposed, and Charles XIIL proclaimed, 

March 13. 

War between France and Austria, Aj-iil G. 

Frtiuch enter V'^ienna, May 12. 

— . War bet veen Russia and Austria, May 22. 
•^-^ The Papal States united to France, June 1. 
Battle of Talavera, July 24. 

Peace of Vienna between Austria and France, October 14. 

IBIO Bonaparte divorces the Empress Josephine, January Hi. 

lie marries the Arch-Ducliess Maria Louisa of Austria, April I. 

Louis Bonaparte abdicates the throne of lloMand, July 1. 

Holland annexed to the French- 

Pop'ilation of the United States, 7,2:10,'^03. 

1811 I'i'uK-c (if Wales appointed Regent, February 8. 

'J\v() hundred buildings and large quantities of goods burnt in New 

bury port, Mass. 

Massacre in Cairo, when about 1,000 flfamelukcs lost their lives 

March 1. 

A Son born to Napoleon Bonaparte, styled King of Rome, Slarch 20 

Batavia cajjtured by the English, August 8. 

An unusually large comet aj)peared, September 1 

Richinond Theatre burnt, December 2(5. 

1^12 Great Earfhqu.ike at Carraccas, March 20 

Poiceval. Prim.! Minister of England, assassinated, Mny 11. 

War against Great Britain declared by the United States, June 18. 

Gentsral Hull and his army taken prisoners in Canada, August IG. 

Battle of Smolensko, August 17. 

Baltlf of Moskwa, September 7. 

The French army enter Mosiow, I4tli September. 

— ^ British Frigate Giierriere captured, August 2!). 

do. do. Maixdonia captured, October 25. 
do. do. Java captured, December 29. 
?318 Lewis XVHL publishes an Address to the people of Franco, Feb- 
ruary 1. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 513 

A. n. 

18i;J Treaty between Great Britain aiid Sweden, March 3, 

Sweden de.Iarfj: W.u- Miiiiinst Franre. IMarcIl 3. 

-JMi^. Kiissi;!n Ir.,;. ■ ;'i- : ! iainl)in--rli, !\!an:h 18. 

I'nis>i,i joins Uii ;, . ■ 1 Fran, e, ^ian-ji. ' 

SDaiiisirlii'jiiiMiii'i, I. :i-hu<i by the Cortes, April. 

iVallU. of Vrllnir.. in S|i.Mn. .lillif 2. '; 

Aiislna dedans War ,i-auist France, August IL 

(J.n.-ral Monau kill.'d, Ani:iist28. 

C<miniiidnni i\rrv cainnrus tiie British squadron, on lake Erie, Sep- 

t.MMhcr 10 " 

Bfittf'.! of Leipsir, O-tnbcr HI. 

Thi- i'rince (if ()raii;;c assinnos the title oC Sovereign Frinco of tl.O 

.N.-ihcih.nd--, |)i-<.-Mil).-r-,>. 

Tiiti Hnssian.s and tlicir .Allies enter France, December 23. 

1S14 The Pope reh'ased hy H.inai arte, January 23. 

^ Lorn Welliii^jtou foiik possession of Bordeaux, February 13. 

' Pniis (iipituktes to ihi; Allies, March 30. •* 

Th.; AIIm:s einer rari.s, April 1. ' 

Najiolmii Bonaparte dethroned, April 4, and banished to the Island of 

LIha. for whieh he sails, April 26. 

^\Lrt(/t> Xl'Iff., brhig called to the thrcne of France, mado his etitTj 

into I'aris, Way 3. 

Gi'iieral Peace iu Europe, May 30. ~ 

'J'iie Allied Sovereiifns visit London, June 8. 

Iit(p<fsiti<>r: restored in Spain, July IS. 

■ 'NoiWHV annexed to Sweden, August 14. 

City of Washington taken by the Biitish, August 24. 

Britfsli St^juadroh r.n Lake Chaniplain captured by Commodore M'Dnni 

on^'li, Se|)teniber 11. ' "~ 

G*;neral Connross of Vienna, November 7. ' 

Peiis.icola taken by G(-neral Jackson, November 7. 

Treaty of Peace between the United States and Great Britain signed 

at ('ihent, December 24. 

Tl:e Briiish repulsed at New-Orleans, December 28. 

Idlo 'J'lie I'ritish comidetely defeated and General Packenham slain at 
-■-New-Orleans, January 8. 

United States Frigate "President taken by a Briiish squadron, Janua- 

ry 15. 
Peace between Great Britain and the United States ratified Februa- 
ry 2-1.' 

Bonajiarte sailed from Elba, February 26 — lands in France, March 1— 

enters Pans, March 20. 

Bonaparte left Paris to meet the Allies, May 2. 

Batll.! of Waterloo, June 17 and 18. 

Bonaparte surrenders himself to the British, July 15. 

Joachim Miirat, King o/ Na[)lcs, shot for High Tieason, October 13. 

Ponaparte landed at St. Hehma, October 13. 

Marshal Ney shot for High Treason, December 7. 

I8l<i Jesuits e.vpelled from Petersburgh and Moscow, January 2. 

St. Johns, N(!wfuunidand, destroyed by fire, February 18. 

Princess Charlotte of Wales married to Prince Leopold, fllay 2. 

Lord Cochrane tried fi)r breaking out of Prison, August 17. 

He is released by a penny subscription, Deceud)er 7. 

Indiana admitted into the Union as a State, Decendter. 

1817 United States Bank opened for business at Philadelphia, January 1. 

American Colonization Society for fi-ee Blacks organized, Jinuaiy L 

James Monroe President of the United States, Rlarch 4. 

Pcrnaud)uco de(dared itself Independent, April 5. 

Portuguese authority established at Pernambuco, 3Iay 18. . 

— Dey of Algiers assassinated, September. 



614 ^ ^ CHHOINOI.OGICAL TABLE. 

A. D. 

1817 Death of Princess Caroline, November G. 

Mississipju admitted into the Union as a State, Dece.-nbcr 11. 

1818 Uueen of Enghmd dies. 

^-^ Charles XIII. of Sweden di^s, and is succeeded by Prince 6ernad(.tle 

France evacuated by the Allies, October. 

Iliin(ns admitted into the Union as a State, December 4. 

Commercial Treaties concluded between the United States on one 

part and Great Britain and Sweden on the other. 

— Alleghany College established. 

1819 A Treaty for the cession of Florida to the United States signed at 

Washmgton, February 23. 

First Steinj Ship sails for E-irope, May. 

— — Commodore Perry dies in the West Indies, August 23. 

Alabama admitted into the Union as a Slate. December. 

1820 George 111., King cf England, dies January 21). 

CSJfOrjJC IV. succeeds to the throne of Great Britain and Ireland. 

-— I'he Duke of Berry assassinated, February 14. 

Maine admitted into the Umon as a State. 

— — Queen Carr.line of England prosecuted for Adultery. 
• Another Revolution, which gives a Free Constitution to the Spauiah 

nation. 

Pojuilation of the United States, 9,(i25,7:?4. 

1821 Mi.ssouri admitted into the Union as a Stale. 

An attempt to destroy the Royal Family of France, January 27. 

British Government issue a Manifesto respecting the Holy Alliaace, 

I ebruary. 

Napoleon Bonaparte dies at St. Helena, May .'>, 1821, aged 52. 

Queen Caroline t>f England dies, August 7, 18:^1. 

— — Elias Boudinot, President of the American Bible Society, dies. 

1822 William Pinckney dies, Febru.iry 2G. 

Iturbide declared himself Emperor of Mexico. 

—— Columbian College established. 

Massacre of Greeks at Scio. 

—— Revolution in Portugal with a Cortes and Free Constitution. 

— — Don P«!dro, son of the King of Portugal, declared E0<perur of Brazils 

1823 Iturbide dethroned and banished to Italy. 

France declares War against Spain, and invades it witli a large army 

-• — Counter Revolution in Portugal. 

- Treaty of Peace between Spain and Buenos Ayres, July 4. 



COMPARATIVE VIEW 



ANCIENT 



MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 



In llin r-llo-A-ins Tables the Coiintros unknown to Ancients, or of which 
the Naiiies arc uncurtain, arc left blank. 

Tlie same numbers in the two ailjacent columns on each page indicate the 
ancient and modern names of the same countries or placed. 



MODERN EUROPE. ANCIENT EUROPE. 

G R F.F.NLAND, or tlie Arctic Conti- 

ICF.l.AM), (Island,) belonging to 
Norway. 

NORWAY. SCANDINAVIA, SCANDIA, 

1. Wa.-dhuis, or Norwegian Lap liALTIA. 

2. nroiitlielm. 2. N<'ri2on. 
'.). Iji-r^fcn. 3. Sitones. 
4. .A^jt<;rliuis, or Christiana. 

SWF.DKN. 

1. Laiilaiid and VV'osl Dothnia. 1. Scritofinni. 

2. 55\vidi;n Proper. 2. f-'niniitis. 

'.i. niithlaiid. li. (Una: et Ililleviones. 

4. I'iiih'iul. 4 Finiiingia. 

5. Islands of Gotldand — Oeland, 5 Insuiie Sinus Cedani. 

Aland, Rii^rpn. 

DENMARK. 

Jutland. Chersonesiis Cimbriea. 

1. Alburg. 1. Cimbri. 

a. Wyburg. 



610 COMPARATIVE 

MODERN EUROPE. 



VIEW OF 
ANCIENT EUROPE. 



3. Anrhiiscn. 


3 


Ilnridos. 




4. Hy..e;M. 


4 


Piiii!iilii<ii, Sigulonesj. 


5. Isltisvviik. 


5 


tjali.iliit:;;!. 


LI II nils in Ihz Baltic. 




///.-.(/</• Sinus Codani. 


1. Zoal.iiui. 


1 


2. TcUlUlICS. 


2. Fimcii. 






3. Falst.T. 






4. I,..„^M.|and. 






5. I.alaiul. 






(1 F»iit!ren. 






7. AIs.;n. 






8. Mufi,,. 






!J. iJoiiilioiin. 






lUi.SSIA IN EUROPE. 




S.NRM.ATIA EUROP.T.A 


1. LivDiiiii anil Est..r<ia. 


1 


liirri cl .^slii vel OsUoues. 


2. iii-rria,, (»r tiie Government 


of 




Pi.'tnrsburg. 






3. Carelia. or tlio Government 


of 




Wiliiiri. 






4. N,.v...r.i,l. 


4. 


Biidiiii. 


5. Arrliaii^ol, Samoiedia. 






(i. .Moscow. 


G. 


Baiilici. 


7. i\'is^liiit;i Novogrod. 






B. .Sinolwiski. 


8. 


Caiiones. 


n. Ki.-w. 






Id. r.irl-orod. 


10 & 4. P.iidini. 


1 1. WnrDiKi.sk. 


11. 


K<>.\olani. 


':J. Azoir. 


]0 


lazygcs. 


FRANCE. 




GALLIA. 


]. Pica-dy. 


J _ 


Ainhiar.i. 


2. IsIh iif France. 


2! 


B.'Iiov.ici, P.iri.sii, Siiossoncs. 


3. Cliai;ii):!j;ue. 


3. 


Rniii, Calalauiii, Tricasse.s, tZ 


4. Normandy. 


4. 


Liii^oiu";;. 
Unelli vol Veneti, Sail, Lex-' 
ovii, Vt'lidi-asses. 




5. Bretany. 


5. 


Osismii, Veneti, Namnetes, 


n 






Andes, Redones. 




G. Oileaniiois. 


G. 


Aureiia-ii, Carnutes, Seno- 
nes, Tu rones, Pictones, 
Bitin-iires. 


rH 


7. I.ionnois. 


7. 


./Edtii, Si'gusiani. 


8. i'n.v.'iu-e. 


8. 


Salves, Cavares. 


9. Langut.doc. 


y. 


Volcre, Arecomici, Hclvii, To 
losates. 


10. Guienno. 


10. 


Petrocorii, Biturigcs, Cadurci, 
Riiteni. 


11. (iasfoisne. 


11. 


A(|iiilani. 


I'J. Dawphino. 


Iri 


Allolirogcs, Centrones. 


\\\. Un'j:u[idy and Franclie-cwmtc. 


13. 


Liiijjjones, ifldiii, Seqnar.i. 


14. Lorraine and Alsace. 


14. 


Letici, Modiomatrici, Triboci, 






Nemetes. 





UNITED PROVINCES, OR KING- 

DO.M OF HOLLAND. SAX0NE3. 

1. Holland. 1,2. Frisii. 

2. Frie.^^Iand. 

3. Zealand. 

4. Groningen. 4. Canri vol Cliauci. 

5. Overyssel. 5. Franci. 



ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 517 

MODERN EUROPE. ANCIENT EUROPE. 



6. Guelderland and Zutphen. 


6. Bructeri, Catti, Sicambri. 




7. Utrecht. 


7. Batavi. 


NETHERLANDS, 




•ELONGINO TO FRANCE AND HOLLAND. 


BELGiE, &c. 


1. Brabant. 


1. Menapii, Tungrii. 


2. Antwerp. 


2. Toxandri. 


3. Mechlen or Malines. 




4. Limburgh. 


4, 5. Alemanni. 


5. Luxemburgh. 




6. Namur. 


6. Treveri. 


7. Hainault. 


7. Remi. 


8. Cambresu. 




9. ArtoiB. 


9. Atrebates, Veromandui. 


10. Flanders. 


10. Belgae, Morini. 


GERMANY. 


NATIONES GERMANIC/E. 


1. Upper Saxony. 


1. Seuvi, Lingae, &c. "^ 




2. Lower Saxony. 


2. Saxones, Longobardi, Gam- 
brivii. 


I 


3. Westphalia 


3. Cherusci, Chamavi, Gauchi, 
Germania Inferior. 


I 


4. Upper Rhine. 


4. Germania Superior. 


oc 


5. Lower Rhine. 


5. Marci, Tincteri. 




6. Franconia. 


6. Marcomanni, Hermonduri. 


7. Austria. 


7. Noricum. 


8. Bavaria. 


8. Rhsetia. 


9. Suabia. 


9. Vindelicia. 


BOHEML\. 




1. Bohemia Proper. 


1. Boiohoemum. 


2. Silesia. 


2. Corconti. 


3. Moravia. 


3. Quadi. 


POLAND. 


GERMANO-SARMATiE. 


1. Greater Poland. 


1. Peucini. 


2. Less Poland. 


2. Lugii. 


3. Prussia Royal. 


3, 4. Burgundiones, Eugii, Ou- 


4. Prussia Ducal. 


thones. 


5. Samogitia. 


5. Ombroges. 


6. Courland. 


6. Scyri. 


7. Lithuania. 


7, 8. Germano-Sarmatia. 


8. Warsovia. 




9. Polachia. 




10. Polesia. 




11. Red Russia. 


11, 12, 13. Bastarnse. 


12. Podolia. 




13. Volhinia. 




SPAIN. 


HISPANIA, vel IBERIA. 


1. Gallicia. 


1, 2, 3. Gallaecia— Cantabri, As- 


2. Asturia. 


tures, Varduli. 


3. Biscay. 




4. Navarre. 


4, 5, 6. TarraconensiS — Vnscones, 


5. Arragon. 

6. Catalonia. 


Valetani. 




7. Valentia. 


7, 8. Carthaginensis ^ditani. 


8. Murcia. 


Contestani 


9. Granada. 


9, 10. BsEtica — B&stiani, BastulL 


10. Andalusia. ^ 


Turdetanij &c. 





Xx 



518 



COMPARATIVE VIEW OF 



MODERN EUROPE. 



ANCIENT EUROPE. 



11. Old Castile. 


11. Gallaeciae pars — Accai, Arevaci 


12 Mew Castile. 


12. Tarraconensis pars— Carpetani. 




Oretani. 


13 Leon. 


13. Galla>.ciae pars — Vettones. 


14 Estrcmadura. 


14. Lusitaniae pars — Ba:turia. 


SPANISH ISLANDS. 


insula: insPANiCiE. 


Ivica. 


Balearcs. 


Majorca. 




Minorca. 




PORTUGAL. 


LUSITANIA. 


Entrc Minlio c Douro. 


Calliaci, Lusitani, Ccltici. 


Tralos Montes. 




Beira. 




Estrom.^dura. 




Entrc Tajo. 




Alentajo. 




Algarva. 




SWITZERLAND. 


HELVETIA. 


I. Bern. 


1, 2, 3, 4. Ainbronog. 


2 Fribm-g. 




3. Basil or Bale. 




4. Luccrn. 




5. Solotiirn. 




(5. Scliafi'hauseo. 


6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Tigurini. 


7. Zurick. 




8 Appenzel. 




y. Zug. 




10. Schweitz. 




!1. Claris. 




12. Uri. 




13. Underwald. 




54. Geneva. 


14. Nantuates. 


!5. Grisons, &c. 


15. Veragri, ValHa Pennina, Le- 



ITALY. 



t. Savoy. 



ponti!. 

ITALIA. 

Lepontii, Scgusini, Tau- 
nni. 



2. Piedmont. 


2. 


Orobi. \ 


> 


3. Montferrat. 


3. 


Insubres. ( ^'S^na. 


s 


4. Milan 


4. 


■a.2 


5. Genoa. 


5. 


.) 


•"i a 


6. Parma. 


6. 


Anamani. 


.2 


7 Modcna. 


7. 


Boii. 


8. Mantua. 


8. 


Cenomani. 


'rt 


9. Venice. 


9. 


Vcnetia. 


O 


JO. Trent. 


10. 


Tridentini. 




11. The Popedom. 


11. 


Lingones, Scnones, Pionum 
bria, Sabini, Pars Latii. 


,Um. 


12. Tuscany. 


12. 


Tuscia vel Elruria. 




13 Lucca. 


13. 


Pars Tusciffl. 




14. San Marino. 


14. 


Pars Umbria?. 




15. Kingdom of Naples. 


15. 


Samnium, Pars Latii, A 


pulia, 






Campania. Lucania, Bru 


ttiura. 


ITALIAN ISLANDS. 




INSUL.'E ITALICS. 




1. Sicily. 

2. Sardinia. 


1. 


Sicilia, Sicania, vcl Trinac 


ria. 


2. 


Sardo, vel Sardinia. 




3. Corsica. 


3. 


Cyrnus, vel Corsica. 
Melita. 




4. Malta. 


4. 





ANCIENT AND MODERN (jlEOGRAPili:'. 519 

MODERN EUROPE. ANCIENT EUROPE. 



5. Lipari Islands. 


5. 


Lipariie Insul.T. 


G. r.iDri, Isdiia, &c. 


(5. Capreie, Iseliia, &c. 


iiun(;ary. 




TRANSYLVANIA. 


DACIA. 


SCLAV'JNIA. 


PANNONIA. 


CROATIA. 


ILLYRICUM. 


TURKEY IN EUROPE. 




1. Diiimalia. 


1 Dalmatia. 


2. Bosnia. 


2. MfBsia Superior. 


3. Sorvia. 


3. Ducia Ripeusis. 


4. WallatJ'ia. 


4. Getaj. 


5. JVIdldavia and Bessarabia. 


5. Pars Dacia;. 


6. Bulgaria. 


C. Ma!sia Inferior. 


7. Albania. 




7. Epirus. 

8. Macedonia. 


8. ftlacedcnia. 




y. Rnniania. 


CS 


9. Thracia. 


10. Livadia. 




10. Thessalia. 


11. Mi.rea. 


g ' 


11. Peloponnesus. 

12. Scythia et pars Dacie. 

13. Parva Scythia. 


lii. Budzian Tartary or Bessarabia. 


O 


13. Little Tartary. 




14. Crimea. 




14. Tanrica Chersonosu. 


GREEK ISLANDS. 


INSULA MARIS lONII. 


I. Corfu. 


1. Corey ra. 


2. Ceplialonia. 


2. Cephaienia. 


3. Zante. 


3. Zacynthus. 


4. Ithaee, Tliiace, &c. 


4. Ithaca, »Sx. 


GREEK ISLANDS IN THE 




ARCHIPELAGO. 


INSULiE MARIS /EGJEl 


1. Candia. 


1. Creta. 


2. Nci^rcpont. 


2. Euboea 


3. StaUmene. 


3. Lemnos. 


4. Scyro, &c. 


4. 


Scyros, &c. 



GREAT BRITAIN. 





SCOTLAND 


1. 


Edinburgh. 


2. 


Haddington. 


3. 


Berwick. 


4. 


Roxburgh. 


5. 


Selkirk. 


6. 


Dumfries. 


7. 


Kircudbright. 


8. 


Peebles. 


9. 


Wi-ton. 


10. 


Lancrk. 


11. 


Air. 


12. 


Dumbarton. 


13. 


Bute. 


11. 


Renfrew. 


15. 


Stirling. 


Ki. 


Liiduhgow. 


17. 


Fife. 


18 


Clackmannan. 


19 


Kinross. 


20 


Perth. 


21 


Argyle. 



SCOTIA. 




Picti. 



Picti. 



Epidii, Gadeni, Ceronei. 



620 



COMPARATIVE VIEW OF 



MODERN EUROPE. 



ANCIENT EUROPE, 



22. Kincardine. 

23. Forfar. 

24. Aberdeen. 

25. Banff. 

26. Elgin. 

27. Nairn. 
Sd. Inverness. 

29. Ross. 

30. Cromarty. 

31. Southerland, 

32. Caithness. 
"33. Orkney. 

34. Siietland. 

ENGLAND. 

1. Cornwall. 

2. Devonshire. 

3. Dorsetshire. 

4. Hampshire. 

5. Somersetshire. 

6. Wiltshire. 

7. Berkshire. 

8. Oxfordshire. 

9. Gloucestershire; 

10. Monmouthshire. 

11. Herefordshire. 

12. Worcestershire. 

13. Staffordshire. 

14. Shropshire. 
1-^ Essex. 

16 Hartfordshire. 

17 Kent. 



22. Vemicones. 

23. Horeata). 
24. 
25. 
26. 
27. 



TsBzali. 
Vacomagi. 



Attaeoti. 



Scoti. 



29. 

Cantse. 
31. 

32. Mertffi. 

33. Orcades. 

34. Thule. 

ANGLIA. 
Damnonii. 



u 



3. Durotriges. 

5. J>BelgJB. 

6. S 

7. Attrebatii. 
Dobuni. 



9. 
10. 
11. 
12. 
13. 
14. 

15. Trinobantes. 

16. Catieuchlani. 

17. Cantii. 



Silures. 



• Cornavii. 



18 Surry. 

19 Sussex. 



18. 
19. 



Regni. 



20 Norfolk. 

21. Suliblk. 

22. Cambridgeshire. 

23. Huntingdonshire. 

24. Bedfordshire. 

25. Buckinghamshire. 

26. Lincolnshire. 

27 Nottinghamshire. 

28 Derbyshire. 
29. Rutiandshire. 
30 Leicestershire. 
SI Warwickshire. 

32 Northamptonshire. 

33 Northumberland. 

34 Durham. 

35 Yorkshire. 
86 Lancashire. 

37 Westmoreland, 

38 Cumberland. 

39 Cheshire: ' 

40 Middlesex. 



ni' > Simeni, vel Iceni. 

22! ) 

23. /Catieuchlani. 

24. S 

25. Attrebalii. 

26. -V 

27. / 

28. > Coritani. 

29. V 

30. J 

31. Cornavi. 

32. Catieuchlani. 

33. 
34. 

35. 

36 



gij.' > Brigantes. 



yornavu. 
40. Attrebates et Catieuchlani. 



ANCiEW r AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 
MODERN EUROPE. ANCIENT EUROPE. 



1. Anglesey. 

2. Fliiitsliire. 

3. flfonlgomery. 

4. Denbiglisliire. 
o. Carnarvonsliire. 
(). Merioneth. 

7. Cardiganshire. 

8. Carmartlienshire. 

9. Penibrokesliire. 

10. Radnorshire. 

11. brecknocksjire. 

12. Glamorganshire. 

IRELAND. 



1. Louth. 

2. Meath East. 

3. Meath West. 

4. Longford. 

5. Dublin. 
(j. Kildare. 

7. King's County. 

8. Queen's County, 
y. Wicklow. 

10. Carlow. 

11. VVexford. 

12. Kilkenny. 

13. Donncgal or Tyrconnel. 

14. Londonderry. 

15. Antrim. 
W. Tyrone. 

17. Fermanagh. 

18. Armagh. 

19. Down. 

20. ISIonaghan. 
.21. Cavan. 



f22. Cork County. 
u I 23. Waterford. 
■§ j 24. Tipperary. 
§ I 25. Limerick. 
S 26. Ko.rry. 

1.27. Clare. 

£ r28. Galvvay. 
so 29. Roscommon. 
'a { 30. Mayo. 
c I 31. Sligoe. 
O [32. Leitrim. 

BRITANNIC ISLANDS. 

1. Shetland and Orkney. 

2. Western Islea of Scotland. 

3. Man. 

4. Anglesey. 

5. Wight. 

X X S 



WALES. 

I. Mona Insula. 



4. > Ordovices. 



DometsB. 



Silures. 



HIBERNIA, vol IRENE. 

1. Voluntil. 

|- ^Caucl. 

4. Auteri. 

§• jBlanii. 

7 ) 

a" > Corondi. 

9. Blanii. 

|V' > Manapii. 

12. C'oriondi. 

13. Vennicnii. 
H. ) 

15. SRobogdii. 

16. S 

17. Erdini. 
18.) 

19. > VoluntiL 

20.^ 

21. Cauci. 



22. Vodiffi, Inverni. 

23. 

24. 

25. 

26. 

27. 



Brigantea. 
Velabori. 

• Gangani. 



29. Auteri. 

30. ) 

31. VNagnatse. 

32. ) 

INSULA BRITANNICiB 

1. Thufe. 

2. Ehudes Insuls. 

3. Monaeda vel Mooa, 

4. Mona. 

5. Vectie. 



COMPARATIVE VIEW OF 



MPX>£RN ASIA. 



ANCIENT ASIA. 



TURKEY IN ASIA. 


ASIA MINOR. 


1. Natolia. 


1. Mys!a, Lydia, Caria, Phrygia, 
Bithynia, Galatia, Paphlago- 




2. Amasia or Siwas. 


2. Pontus. 


3. Aladulia. 


3. Armenia. 


4. Caramania. 


4. Cappadocia, Cilicia, &c. 


5. Irak. 


5. Babylonia, Chaldea. 


6. Diarbcck. 


6. Mesopotamia. 


7. Curdistan. 


7. Assyria. 


8. Turcomania. 

9. Georgia. 

10 Syria and Palestine. 


8 ) 

q' > Armenia Major. 


10. Syria, Palmyrene, Phoenicia, Ju- 
daea. 

ARABIA. 


ARABIA. 


Arabia Petnea. 


Arabia Petraea. 


Arabia Deserta. 


Arabia Deserta. 


Arabia Felix. 


Arabia Felix. 


PERSIA. 


PERSIA. 


1. Chorassan. 


1. Pars Hyrcaniffi et Sogdiana. 


2. Balk, Sablustan, Candahar. 


2. Bactrania. 


3. Sigistan. 


3. Drangiana. 


4. Makeran. 


4. 


5. Kerman. 


5. Gedrosia. 


6. Farsistan. 


6. Persia. 


7. Chusestan. 


7. Susiana. 


8. Irak Agem. 


8. Parthia. 


9. Curdestan. 


9. Pars Assyriae. 


10. Aderbeitzen. 


10. Media. 


11. Georgia. 


11. > 


12. Gangea. 


12. } Iberia, Colchis, et Albanui. 


13. Dagestan. 


13. i 


14. Mazanderam. 




15. Gilan Taberistan. 


15. Pars Hyrcaniffi. 

16. Para Albaniae. 


16. Chirvan. 


INDIA. 


INDIA. 


Mogol. 


India intra Gangem. 


Delhi. 


Palibothra. 


Agra. 


Agora. 


Cambaia. 
Bengal. 

India within the Ganges. 


Regna Pori et TaTtifin, 




Decan. 


Dachanos. 


Golconda. 


Prasii vel Gangaridae. 


Bisnagar. 




Malabar. 


Male. 


Island of Ceylon. 


Taprobana Insula vel Salice. 


India beyond the Ganges. 


India extra Gangem. 


Pegu 


_ 


Ton<^upn, 




Cochinchina 




Siam. 


Sinarum Repo. 




CHINA. 


Niuche. 




Cof«a. 





ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 
MODERN ASIA. ANCIENT ASIA. 



Laotong. 

Pekin 

Xansi. 

Xensi. 

Xantum. 

Nanking. 

Chekiam. 

Honan. 

Fluquam. 

Kianisi. 

Fokien. 

Canton. 

Suchuen. 

Quecheu. 

Yunam. 

Formosa. 
Ainan. 
Macao. 
Bashee Islands. 



Seriea. 



CHINESE ISLANDS. 



RUSSIA IN ASIA. 



1. Sakhatia Aaiatica. 



Scythia intra Imaum. 



1. Astracan. 

2. Orenburg. 

3. Casan. 

4. Siberia — Tobolsk, Jeniseia, 

kutsk, Kamachatka. 

INDEPENDENT TARTARY. 

1. Great Bucharia. 1. Bactriana, Sogdiana. 

2. Karasm. 2. Aria. 



"I 

It- 4. r 



ALUTH TARTARS. 

1. Little Bucharia. 

2. Casgar. 

3. Turkestan. 

4. Kalmac Tartars. 

5. Thibet. 

6. Little Thibet. 

CHINESE TARTARY. 

Kalkas. 

Mongol Tartars. 
Mantchou Tartars. 
Corea. 

ISLANDS OF CHINESE TAR- 
TARY. 

Sagalien-Ula-hata. 
Jedso. 

ISLANDS OF JAPAN. 
Japan or Niphon. 
Xicoco. 
Ximo. 

PHILIPPINE ISLES. 
Lucon or Manilla. 
Mindanao, &.c. 
MARIAN OR LADRONE. 
ISLANDS. 
Tinian. 



SCYTHIA extra DIAUM. 



SINiE. 



m COMPARATIVE VIEW OF 

MODERN ASIA. ANCIENT ASIA. 

ISLES OF SUNDA. 

Borneo. 
Sumatra. 
Java, «&c. 

MOLUCCA ISLES. 
C.'Iebes. 
Aniboyna. 
Coram. 
Timor. 
Flurrs, &c. 
MALDIVA ISLES. 



MODERN AFRICA. 



ANCIENT AFRICA. 



BARDARY. 

1. Jforocco. 

2. Algiers. 

3. Tunis. 
1. Tripoli. 
5. Barca. 



Egypt. 

BiLurLcr.RiD. 
Zaara, or tlie Desert. 
Nkoholakd. 

Gu!^£A. 

Upper Ethiopia- 



JNubia, Ai)yssinia, Abex. 

Lower Ethiopia 

Lower Guinea 

Loango, Congo, Angola, Ben- 

guela, Matanan. 
Ajan. 
Zanguebar. 

MoNOMOTAPA. 

MONOEMUGI. 

SOFOLA. 

Terra de Natal. 
Cafraria, or country of tho 
Hottentots. 



1. Mauritania Tingitana. 

2. Mauritania Ceesariensis. 

3. Nuinidia, Africa Propria. 

4. Tripolitana. 

5. Cyrenaica, Libya Superior. 

1. jEgyptus. 

2. Libya Inferior, Gjitulia. 

3. SoLITUUINES. 

4. AUTOLOLES. 

6. iExHiopii et LIBT.S para. 

7. iEruiopiiE pari. 



NORTH AMERICA. 

BRITISH AMERICA. 

1. Tiio countries on the east and west side of Baffin's and Hudson's Ba3rai, 

2. Labrador, or New Britain. 

3. C.inada. 

4. Nova Scotia. 



Islands. 

Newfoundland, Cape Breton. 

British Islands in the West Indies. 

Bermudas, Bahama Islands, Jamaica, St. Christopher's, Nevis, Montseirat, 
Antigua, Dominica, St. Vincent, Tobago, Grenada, Barbadoes, Ac Ac 



ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 



f; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

New England— Maine, New-Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connect* 
icut, and Rhode-Island. 

State of Now- York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Vir- 
ginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, 
Ohio, Indiana, Louisiana, Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi, Illinois. 

The district of Columbia, the territories of Michigan, Arkansas. 

SPANISH AMERICA. 

Mexico or New Spain, New Mexico. 

NORTH AMERICA. 

Spanish Islands in the West Indies. 
Cuba, Porto Rico, west part of St. Domingo, Trinidad, Margarita, Cuba* 
gua, &c. 

Dutch Islands in the West Indies. 
Part of St. Martin's Isle, Eustatius, Aves, Buenos Ayres, Curacoa, Aruba. 

French Islands in the West Indies. 
Miquelon, St. Pierre, part of St. Martin's Isle, St. Bartholomew, Nartinico, 
Guadaloupe, Desiada, Mariega<lant, St. Lucia, part of St. Domingo. 

Danish Islands in the West Indits. 
St. Thomas, Santa Cruz. 

SOUTH AMERICA. 

FRENCH. 
Part of the Province of Guiana, Cayenne, &c. 

SPANISH. 

Terra Firma, Country of the Amazons, Peru, Chili, Terra MageHanica, 
Paraguay, Tucuraan. 

DUTCH. 
Part of Guiana, Surinam, &c. 

PORTUGUESE. 
Brazil, and w^w^j lf\w^^ on the cQ^t, part of Gaiaaa. 



ANCIENT EMPIRES. 

The Empire of Assyria, under Ninus and Semiramis, about 2200 befbie 
J. C, cor(ip^^hend?d, Asia Minpr, Colchis, Assyria, Media Chaldea, 
Egypt. 



526 COMPARATIVE VIEW OP 

The Empire of Assyria, as drvided about 820 before J. C, formed three 
Kingdoms, Media, Bjibyli-Chaldea, (Syria and Chaldea,) Lydia, (all 
Asia MiriOj.) 

The Einpini of the Pehsians, under Darius Hystaspcs, 522 befitre J. C, 
compreiiended, Persis, Susiana, Chaldea, Assyria, Media, Uactriaiia, 
Armenia, Asia, Parthia, Iberia, Albania, Colchis, Asia Minor, Egypt, 
part of Ethiopia, part of Scythia. 

The Empire of Alexander the great, 330 before J. C, consisted of, 
1, all 31accdonia and Greece, except Peloponnesus; 2, all the Persian 
Empire, as above described ; 3, India to the banks of the Indus on the 
east, and the laxarles or Tanais on the north. 

Tiic Empire of Alexander was thus divided. 306 before J. C, between 
Ptolemy, Cassander, Lysimachus, and Seleucua. 

Empire of Ptolemy. 

Lybia, Arabia, Coelosyria, Palestine. 

Emjiire (\f Cassander. 



Macedonia, Greece. 
Thrace, DitJiynia. 



Empire of Lijshnachua. 



Empire of Scleucus. 

Syria, and all the rest of Alexander's Empire. 

The Empire of the Parthians, 140 before J. C, comprehended Parthia, 
Hyrcnnia, Media, Persis, Bactriana, Babylonia, Mesopotamia, India to 
the Indus. 

The Rom vn Empire, under the Kings, was confined to the city of Rome, 
and a few miles round it. 

The Roman Empire, at the end of the Republic, comprehended all Italy, 
great part of Gaul, part of Britain, Africa Proper, great part of Spain, 
Illyria, Istria, Liburnia, Dalmatia, Achaia, Macedonia, Dardania, Mcesia, 
Thracia, Pontus, Armenia, Judaa, Cilicia, Syria, Egypt. 
i 

Under the Emperors the following countries were reduced into Roman 
Provinces. 

All Spain, the Alpes Maritiniae, Piedmont, «&c. Rhaetia, Ncricum, Panno- 
nia, and Mcesiu, PontuSj, Armenia, Assyria, Arabia, Egypt. 

Constantius Chlorus and Galerius divided the Empire into Eastern and 
Western ; and under Constantine each Empire had a distinct capital or 
seat of government. 

TJie extent of «!ach division was fluctuating from time to time ; but, in gen 
eial, the Western Empire comprehended Italy, Illyria, Africa, Spain^ 
tiic Gauls, Briium. 

TJic Eastern Empire comprehended Asia Minor, Pontus, Armenia, Assyria, 
Media, &c. Egypt, Thrace, Dacia, Macedonia. 



ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 



527 



The Empire" of Chari.emagnk, A. D. 800, coinprenenrtea Franco, Marca, 
Hispatiica, (or Navarre and Catalonia,) Majorca, Minorca, and Ivica, 



Dalinaiia Rliatia, 



Corsica, Italy as far south as Naples, Istria, Libu'.Hi , 

Vindelica, 'Noricum, Germany, from the Rhine to tlin Oder, and to ,th 
ban Us of the BaUic. 



France contained, 1, Neustria, comprehendinj^ Brctany, Normandy, Isle of 
France, Orleannois ; 2, Austria, comprehending, i'icardy," and Cham- 
pagne ; 3, Aquitania, compreliending Giiienne, and (jascony ; 4, 1{ur;;iin- 
dia, comprehending Burgundy, Lionnois, Languedoc, DaupJune, Provenoo. 



NAMES OF THE PRINCIPAL RIVERS IN EUROPE. 



ANCIENT. 




MODEIJ 


N. 


1. Rha. 




1. 


Wolga. 




2. Tanais. 




2. 


Don. ■ ^ 




3. Rorystcnes. 




3. 


Nieper. 




4. Tyras. 




4. 


Nif/ster. ' ' 




5. Daniibiusor 


later. 


5. 


Danube. , 




G. Pad us. 




C. 


Po. 




7. Rliodanns. 




7. 


Rhone. 




8. Iberus. 




8. 


Ehro. 




0. Bu!tis. 




9. 


Guadalquiver. 




10. Anas. 




10. 


Guadiaha. 




11. Tagus. 




11. 


Tayo. 




12. Durius. 




12. 


Douro. 




13. Garumna. 




13. 


Garonne. 




14. Li-er. 




14. 


Loire. 




15. Scquana. 




15. 


ScvnB;'^ ' • * « 




16. Samara. 




16. 


Scmme. 




17. Kcaldis. 




17. 


Scheldt. '-*■••* 


■•^ 


18. Mosa. 




18. 


Maese. ^ 




19. Rhenus 




11). 


Rhine.^ ■ " 


x'.« 


20. Visurgia. 




.^.v V-20, 


We.ser. 




21. Albis. 


' 


21. 


Eibte> ' ■"> ' 


• ' 


22. Viadrus. 




22. 


Oder. 





The Vistula, the Dwina at Riga, and the Dwina at Archangel. ^ 



END. 



QUESTIONS. 



PART FIRST. 

SECTION 1. 

t. What books afford the earliest authentic history of the ages 
diately following the deluge ? 

2. When were Babylon and Nineveh built ? 

3. By whom were they built ? 

4. Who are said to have raised Assyria to a high degree of splendour? 

5. What is the condition of the early parts of Egyptian history? 

6. Who was the first king of Egypt? 

7. How was Egypt divided ? 

SECTION II. 

8. What is the earliest mode of government ? 

9. Of what description were the first monarchies ? 
10. What was the rank of the kings of Scripture ? 

U. What was the character of the first penal laws in human society? 

12. What were the earliest laws formed for the benefit of society ? 

13. What singular usages prevailed among the anciant nations relating 

to matrimony ? 

14. What laws next succeeded in order to those of marriage ? 

15. What were the earliest methods of authenticating contracts? 

16. What nation used hieroglyphics, and for what purpose were they 

used ? • ^ 

17. What were the meihoJo for rci-ordtng historical facts, and publishing 

them among the ancients ? 

18. What are among the earliest institutions that have existed ? 

19. How was the priesthood anciently exercised ? 

20. Of what are useful arts the offspring ? 

21. Of what are some of the earliest of them ? 

22. What were the first sciences cultivated ? 

SECTION III. 

23. To what nation is most of the knowledge of ancient nations to be 

traced ? 

24. How did that knowledge descend to modem nations ? 

25. What presumption does the country afford of the antiquity of the 

Egyptian empire ? 

26. To what are the inundations of the river Nile owing? 

27. What was the government of Egypt ? 

28. What was the character of their penal laws ? 

29. What was the manner of conferring funeral rites in Egypt ? 

30. What regulation was there concerning the borrowing of money ? 

31. In the knowledge and cultivation of what useful arts and scicBCes 

were the Egyptians distinguished ? 

32. ^Vhat samples of their architecture still remain 1 

33. When were the pyramids built ? 

34. For what were they probably built ? ,... 



35. 

36. 


Whatwa 
Wliat cu 


1} 1>} 




poiary i 


"ir 


37. 

38. 
39. 
40. 


By what 
For V hat 
What IS « 
What 1=. t 


hi-,ii 

vftci 1 



Tii£ PiuNCE or "Wales derives 
— p irth b^ iiiliciipnce andpait 



n — fion til 
f(l I M 1 



111 i I 

\n^ Jill \ \ II 
vested w itli tl^ Ctrlfi^^iifot ( 
To what ( ^las '«m< ( 1 ct u lucl uli d 

ment^of^l^f^ < 1 " T 

Who we L 

What cole of thi 1 11 K(. 
Who «atl I j] 



h ^S- .1 



Who LSt 

Who (s,tU Uu ]u^i 
Who lutic I 



How 



Wha t wa 



What Is s 
What wa' 
What wt 
termed r 
Of what d 
What goo 



Who ipsti 
What was 
Who laid 
W'hen anc 
AVhat was 
What wa; 
Thebes : 
On whose 
What are 
How were 



WUen did 
Who was 
What cau 

Ushing c 
What cau 

governm 
What disf' 



What pen 
new-mo^ 
What was 
To what ( 
How did \ 




I nm til ce 
i-'j >|itL con- j 

II ( re ited 
I \^\ (1 \s 

ju ilh in 
(, (IN liicli 
I 111 tilt pit 
Srottisli titles 
1 fi un Robeit 
N( *(d 111 
or >^ ot 
^t pie 11 
4 t ) hei 
T' K if 



^f coatem 



first rudi- 



!(' 



1 Ul It 

tile (lunit\ 



ley were 



<on ajvt 

w ill II a 

But nil in I Lei iiid iuievei 

.f tLe.L^^rrGf,-I)>.,.L., . 

Kingdom; in memory of Her Maj' sty's 

visit to that portion of her dominions. — 

His royal highness takes his seat in the^ 

House of Peers as Duke of Cornwall— J 

The following.ishis genealog^..,^ j^ 

His Iloyal Highness AlbWtfEt^'ard, 
Prince of Wales, etc., is eldest son of ^ieges of 
her most gracious Majesty, the present 
Queen, 

VICTORIA, 

who is niece of the Kings William IV 
and George lY, and daughter of Prince 
Edward, Duke of Kent, the fourth son 
of 

George III, \yho was the son of 

Frederick, Prince ^ Wales, the son '^" ti^ie ? 
of 

George, II, who was son of 

jGeorge I, who was son of 

Sopiiia, j']lectreas of Hanover, dangh 

> Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, wlKywa 
daua:hter of 



c;public .' 
by estab- 



publican 



mino. and 
curgus i 



161. 
162. 
163. 



164. 



165. 



168. 
169. 
170. 

171. 



■A-72. 
173. 

l'74. 
175. 
176. 
177. 

173. 



VVlio r 
What 
When 
What 
What 
What 



What 
What 
Which 
empin 



What 
liyine 
(ler? 

What 
powe 

How T 

Whin 



What i 

What 

In wh; 

exam 

What i 

parin 

Gree 



In whf 
AVhich 
;; feoti< 
' in wh< 
What 
What 
What 
How • 
thosfl 



179. 
180. 
131. 
I«2. 



183. 
184. 
185. 
186. 



Jaines T, who was son of ,.^ 
Mary, Que.e;j. of Scots, who waacIaiM 

t^TOf ^ ' ^; \' '%&- 

Ucfiry J Y and Kiza' id h, whic^i^Prin- 

cess was the undouljlo.f ]ieii-ess to ''tlie 

Throire of Knglaud, the repijesent^^e 

of the Red E9.se,^??n,u- tlie daugf^^^of 
EdwarcJ^IY^^^^ wa.s the' son of 
Richard piHfcenet, D^uke of Yoi-k, 

who was sou ^^ *"a ,». 

Annie Mortimer, who was the dangh- 

ter of 

' Roger, Eurl of March, who' ,was son 

of 

Phillippa, who was the daughter of 
Lionel, Dulce. "of GlaPencJfe, wlio* was 

son of ^ ' 
Edws'-'d ITT, sVn of Edward!^Ii;son 

of EdwWd I, sou of 

ITenry in7 w.hf^ was son of 
King .Win, wh<. was son of 

s^i&pres-^Ma'nde, who was daughter of 
Henry I, who wa? son of 

a< WlLLitM THE rONQUKRoy;. 

H-etfyf -i married 3Iathilda, the daugh- 
ter of; ' ' V V' ■ 

M'argarct, Queen of ]\IalcoIm of Seot- 
\a\ul, daug-liter of 

Edward, ( ihe osiraidsed), who was son 

E||'ard II, who was tlie brothetl^f ^ 
Ectvyard in, tlie Conlessor, the_mrly 
Prineui at-that time in Eii,;rland -who could 
pretend to Ih'e^Cro wn. 'Ed warefuie Con- 
fessor was son of .■'^ 
What e "iQJjheli»^,rr,''M^o was son of 
Wh:"£.Edgfi^whow^.3ntff 
What iijjpdmnfld" I, \vW vf-^s son of 

■'^'l!ih\/-d,.<-dled-th3!»Eider, whiT^-as son 

"™* "" ALFRED THE GREAT. ^ Jjk 



How c 
When 
Who a 
When 



m hi* rait 



le his coun> 
of Alexan- 

';iacedoniaa 



of Greece ? 

for splendid 

as on com- 
istory of the 



gree oi per- 



ipare with 



Greek! f 



reece i 



187. What T( 



THE EX«I>ISH WARS ANO tlSGL,A.^D S 
DEBTS. 



The following queer paragraph is going the 
rounds, having appeared already ia a hundred 
journals that we have seen : — 

"The battle of Waterloo closed sixty-five years 
of English.war, in which time the British Gov- 
ernment borrowed ,ft:,17o,000,000 and raised 
$105,945,000,000 by taxes ; a .total of #110,120,- 
000,000 expended in war, for purposes which cer- 
tainly did not rise to the level of national preser- 
TatioD. In twelve years of waragainst Napoleon 
the same conntry expended .f 5,795,000,000, or five 

I hundred millions peif aiinum." ' 

f It will be observed that the figures in regard to 

! English war expenses make rather "a muddle; but 
•me let them pass, and confine our corrections to 
the time mentioned. At the sixty-five years naen- 
tione'd terminated in^ 1815, they must date from 
1750! ' In 1750 England was at peace, and so re- 

^ mained until 1756, when "the Seven Years' War 
/began. Thus 'six -years are^taken oft" at once 
*~'i&-om the 'six^-five. ''The' "Seven Years' War ter- 
minated in 1763, and England remained at peace 
until ■the-spfiifgon 775,' when the war of the Ame- 
rican Revolution began. Thus twelve years mora 

■| are taken 'from the -^sixty-five years of British 

■ -war. ■■ ■:^. ^ '■• . ■; ■ 

J, The peace made in 1783 lasted until the begin- 
ning of-1793, vrhcn the contest with llepublicaa 
France began. Thus are ten years more lopped 
from Bricishiwar-tirae between 1750 and the 
summer of 1815.' The war 'with Itepublican 
Fraiice terminated in 1802. and that with Napo- 
leon began iriMay,»1803, Napalcon then being in 

u.^e conrse>of spoiling into an Emperor, as the 

|;-Tlepublicans had it. Thus more than a year is 

I to be added to the time of Britisli peace; The 
first war with Napoleon lasted until April, 1814, 
or not (luite eleyeii^y^ears.^aad was followed by 
peace with France for about "a year, when' the 
second war with Imperial France began, 
as the consequence of the Emperor's return 
from Elba; but as England was at war with the 
United States for most of the time between 
Napoleon's first abdicationand the date of his 
terief resumption of power, we suppose that 
peace can claim next to nothing of the interval. 
The second war with Napoleon lasted but a few 
months.. Of the sixty-five years that tei-minated 
m the summer of 1815rEnglana was at war about 
thnty-seveh years.- What we supnose is me:int 
by the writer of the paragraph we have quoted is 
this, that England was at war for sixty-five years 
between the date of the beginning of her national 
debt and the date of the final fall of Napoleon the 
first. If so, he is not farwrbng; but then the 
force of England's example with regard to na- 
tional debt is lost to us. Our debt has, as it were 
sprung into existence^,?;- saKum, at a bound, that 
18, -while the English debt, as it stood in 1815, was 
ol slow growth extending over a oeriod of almost 
one huncjied and twenty-seven vears. The Eng- 
lish debt was but small when William and Marv 
began to rggn, early in 1689. 



I in GreecD f 

;rs? 

n morality at J the prog 

ecame an otject of psJ- 

nts of Italy ? 

the origin of Rome ? 
f the city built by Rom- 







>^s 









^ r-* Q n'*^**.— jj ri Vi f* 






£S.9pS "='§''gogS3 

;£sS>„tj1n«k,MP)-'a 



1 -wrhat -were the poweri 



ponrers of the Senate 7 
Tribune ? 
complete democracy ? 



med? 
sted ? 



SEC 

228. What two barriers separa 

229. What two office? were en 

230. What successful expediei 

man armies ? 

231. What city was taken by ( 

232. At what period and afteri 

233. To what event do the Ro: 
. ords and monuments of 
What is there singular 

Rome ? 



The war tbat followed wf'h Franco was ter- 
minated at tbe close of 1697, by the treaty of 
Ryswick, leaving England with a large debt. 
Peftce was maintained for four years and a half, | 
when the war of the Spanish Succession began, 
and was closed by the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, 
the national debt being much increased. Then 
there came a long peace, broken only by a 
few short and unimportant affairs that hardly 
deserve to be called wars. The war with Spain 
began in 1739, and soon ran into the war of the 
Austrian Successipi: which was brought to a c''^'"> 



234 



in i74§> h^ the treaty of Aix la ChApelle. Eight 

years of peace then came, to be followed by the 

Seven Years' War, and that war was followed by 

more than twelve years of peace. 

Then there was war again for eight years, or 

SEC thereabout ; and then ten years of peace ; after 

,„^ ,r , r, ^i. e A which there was almost unbroken war for more 

235. How long after the founda 4^.,^ ^wo years. It wUl be seen that England 

otaUlt^>\y. ' had long breathing times, in which to recover 

236. What ^vas (he policy obs from the effects of war ; and it is notorious that 

nations they had conque the vast industrial system which has enabled 
?:37. What gave rise to the Pu England to bear so great burdens of seeming ex- 
penditure and permanent debt, was developed 
since the Revolution of,}G88,aud most of it si ace 
1763, at which late^ date' th^debt had become 
alarmingly large. "Yb^'grtnlth of the English 
national debt is as follows :-rln 1689, £664,263; 



SE 

238. By whom and when was 

239. How many smaller cities 



the time of the Punic W. in 1702, £16,394,702; in 1714,. £54.145,; 



240. What was the form of go 



in 



241. To what was the wealth- 

SE 

242. Who founded Syracuse ? 

243. What was the governme 

SE 

244. Whore did the war betw 
24;. What lloman consul tm 

Punic war ? 

246. What patriotic act did 

Carthaginians ? 

247. How did the first Punic 

248. How long did the peace 

249. How did the second Pu 

250. Who was the Carthagii 
261. How did Hannibal con 

252. Where did the Romans 

253. How many were slain i 

254. What is supposed woul 
, impro.ved tl^is victory^ 

255. I" "What way did thei 

yteace ? 

256. What Roman general j 

257. At what time did the [ 

258. When did the third cc 

259. What was the issue 0: ■ 

260. When was Carthage i 

261. What othef' success a 



What two persons, al 
of the Romans ? 



i?«ia, £138,865;430 ; in 1783, £'249,851,628 ; in 1815 
£840,850,491. 

The English debt grew .it the rate of six; and » \ 
half million pounds, or a little more, dnria^llT 
years, but the wealth of that country grew at a 
much greater rate during the same time.-; ^rom 
these tacts, however, no inference unfavorable^to^ 
the soundness of our credit can be drawn ; forVe - 
possess resources of increase greatetthan Eng- 
land ever possessed. We have a vast unpeopled 
territory, full of every good thing that 'feait attract 
the industry and demand tbe energies ot'hnman- 
ity ; and into that territory tens of thousands of 
foreigners are now going,— and on the.i^estora- 
tion of peace and unity, hnndreds of ihoii^nds 
would annually enter it. It is possible that we 
might feel the burden^of a debt of .t?2,.500,000,000 
rather hard for th^ first four or five years 
after the cessation of 'hostilities,.: but it 
•would not be so heavy as the burden which 
we now bear, but T|>auld . be considerable- 
lighter ; for then we ■ should not be paying 
war taxes, as the army and navy would be 
reduced to small proportkms. Surely, if we can 
pay heavy taxes in wartime, we should be able 
to pay what would be, comparatively speaking, 
light taxes in a time .of peace ? Five years got 
over, and the debt would not be felt as a burden 
at all. The increase of wealth and prosperity in 
the settled part of the country alone would suf- 
fice to obliterate alLthe consequences of war, and 
. -to effect the thorough rehabilitation of the Re- 
, imblie. -'Both North and South would be' in the 
possession of prosperity, whUe the heroic deeds 
of both parties to the conflict would form a 
common fund of national reputation, and the 
country would have ; a character to maintain 
that would lead it to be careful of its acffoa 
.as a debtor. Then the Qpening up of new ter-; 
ritories, hnd the addition in that waj' made' 
to our means, would be so much clear gain ; 
and as before the war we never felt the annual ex- 
^;ci.f end iture- of* almost $100,000,000, so theii..wc 



10 QUESTIONS. 

263. What circumstances attending the war of Jugurtha gave decisiye 

proof of the corruption of the Roman manners ? 

264. What became of Jugurtha? 

265. Between what two rivals did a civil war noi7 break out in Rome ? 

266. What became of Marius ? 

26'. To what office was Sylla afterwards elected? 

268. What magnanimous act characf'rized the latter part of his life ? 

269. Between whom was the civil war revived after the death of Sylla ? 

270. What conspiracy, at this time, threatened the destruction o> 

Rome ? 

271. By whose provident zeal and patriotism was it extinguished ? 

272. What distinguished individual now rose into notice ? 

273. Under what circumstances was the first Triumvirate formed ? 

274. What Roman general invaded and conquered Britain, 34 B. C. 

275. Who procured the banishment of Cicero ? 

276. Who effected his recall from exile ? 

277. What dissolved the Triumvirate ? 

SECTION XXXIV. 

27 R. What proposltteft«^as made at this time by Caesar ? 

279. Did Pompey accede to it ? 

280. Did war ensue between them? 

281. What decree did the senate pronounce ? 

282. Where was a decisive battle fought ? 

283. ^^'hat became of Pompey ? 

^284. In what war was the famous library of Alexandria burnt ? 

■iMb. \Miat was the ciiaracter of Caesar's administration ol the govern- 
ment, after the complete overthrow of Pompey's partisans .' 

586. To what offices was he appointed ? 

2n7. What was the end of Ca;sar ? 

288. Under what circumstances was the second Triumvirate formed? 

2f;0. For what did Antony summon Cleopatra to appear before him ? 

'2!tlJ. WJiat caused the overthrow of Antony ? 

-!• 1 . W hat became of him ? 

,292. What induced Cleopatra to destroy herself? 

SECTION XXXV. 

293. What power was given to every head of a family ? 
-.-294. What were reckoned the highest points of female merit ? 

295. What qualifications contributed most to elevate persons to the hirfi- 

est offices and dignities of the state ? 

SECTION XXXVI. 

296. What was the state of literature in the early ages of the Roman re- 

public ? 
297 Who were the principal Roman historians ? 

298. Who were the principal Roman poets ? 

SECTION XXXVII. 

299. Was much attention paid to the study of philosophy in the early 

periods of Rome ? ■' 

800. At what time did philosophy become an object of attenticm with the 
Romans ? 

^^' ^omanl ?'''^"'^*^ ^ *^'*^ '^'" ^^''^ '*"^y o*" Philosophy amon^ the 
802. Who may be reckoned their most eminent philosopher? 



QUESTIONS. 11 

SECTION XXXVIII. 

?03. ^^'llat were some of the most distinguishing traits of character in the 
early Romans ? 

304, What contributei chiefly to their change of character and man- 
ners ? 

306. What were some of the amusements of the Romans ? 

SECTION XXXIX. 

306. To what may be ascribed the extensive conquests of the RomaDS ' 
307 What was the number of soldiers in a Roman legion ? ^ / 

308. When is it supposed that the tactic of the Romans was at its heigh' 

of excellence ? 

309. By whom was the art of entrenchment carried to great perfection ? 

310. When was the naval military art first known among the Romans ? 

j SECTION XL. 

j311. When did the most material change for the worse in the national 

character of the Romans take place ? 
512. What were the morals of the Romans in the last ages of the com- 
monwealth ? 
313 From what circumstances did Roman virtue so rapidly decline ' 

314. To what did the Roman republic owe its dissolution ? 

SECTION XLI. 

315. What battle decided the fate of the commonwealth ana made Octa 
! vius master of Rome ? 

{ 316. By what name was he now called ? 

317. What event said to be productive of universal joy distinguished his 

reign ? 

318. W^hat methods did he practice to keep himself in the favour of tli« 
j people ? 

319. When did Augustus die and at what age ? 
3'20. How long did he reign? 

32\. Who succeeded him ? 

3'22. What was the character of Tiberias ? 

323. In what manner was he related to Augustus ? 

324. What was the end of Tiberius ? 

325. In what year of his reign was Jesus Christ crucified? 

326. Who was the successor of Tiberius ? 

327. What was bis character ? 

328. What became of him ? 

329. Who succeeded Caligula ? 

SECTION XI Ji- 

I 330. By what acts of violence was the 'eign of Nero, the successor of Clau- 
I dius, characterised ? 

33 1. Who were the three aerc Roman emperors ? 

332. Under which of the emperors was Jerusalem taken? 

333. Who succeede^I Vespasian ? 

334. What was the character of Titus ? 

335. How was it suspected Titus came to his death ? _ 

336. What three emperors next in order succeeded Domitian ? 

337. What was the character of Trajan and Adrian ? 

SECTION XLIII. 

333. For what length of time did the Antonines reign ? 
339. What waa their character ? 



QUESTIONS 



340. What 



341. 
342. 
343. 
344. 



345. 

346. 

347. 

348. 

349. 
350. 
351. 
352. 

353. 

334. 



455. 
356. 

357. 

358. 
359. 
360. 



361. 



363. 
364. 



365. 

366. 
367, 
368 



3&i 
370 



What 1 : 



'^TiTe Battles in Europe. | 

The Austrian* and tfae French have freq-vently |b Antonines t« 
the s^l met in batiie. D'^Jrlng tbe First Napoleon's time ' 
What ' the /oHowlng bsttle* M'ere fought, generdUy to ti, > jin n^{g period ? 
What « disadvf ntnpe of Amtrlv and her allies : 1^^.^ p 

Under v. -^^ ^'<^'^h J" l^oxnhurS-f. on the 10th of May, 170C< ,,^ , ' , _>,„„ , 
unaei \j^.^^^^^_^^ '^.^j^,^^ ^ deJuye vicloTj-pver ttie Ans- ^d and when f 
trians, the most depperatcoontcst having been at a 
wooden bridge over tie A*da i 

At Arcole. a little vlllag<: in Northern Italy, on 
the 171b November, 1796. Napoleon gained a great ' 
What t victory over the Austrians 'buS-withteni'bleslaugh- |f Rome under 
Consta '^''' onboth sides, the Auatriars- having 1&,0.00 and ' 
Tr. «rho,^^'i'"f"''ench 15, UCO killed aiwi Wisundtd. 
iV/u *^" ""= banks of the Tre^bia river, in Italy, 10 ' 

What 1 milis from Genoa, the French aymy, und?r Mar- 'owards Chris- 

tianit sLal Macdonald, on the 19lh «'f June, 1799, fought T 
W^l/^ xn an sWiPd Austrian and Russian ai^my. In a battle, L , -■ 
vr no w ^rhi^-f^ lastp^ tj^ree days, and in. whish the French t to Julian ' 
lost 12,0(jO men, atid the allies art equal number. 
In the plain of Marengo, at tlu' foo*' of the Ap- [ 
, , pfn!)iiifS,'X4 miles from the strong' Sardinian forli- 

In who licatiouiat Alessandria, in 1799, the Frtach, under !i religion of the 
Romar Marshal Joubert, were defeated by the combined '^ 

Whv -H, Austrians and Russians, under Suwarrov?. Each , 

■^ armyhaduiiwardsof "OOOmcnkilledand wijunded, stian than they 

were: and several thousand prisoners. lations ? 

When' At Engen, in Baden, the French defeated an . j • . , 

^,nje I Au5.%ian arm 7 on the ;>d of May, 1800, the foss in ^'^^ ^^^° ^ V"-"' 

■<x,', ■ killed and w&sndid on each side being set (Sow^n 

wnen at7U()9men. from the orifri 

nal H At l*,ohenlind«n. a village in Upper Bavaria- on 
In wha the:Jd Dec. ISnO, a great battle was fou^ ht betW'wn 
i-v. , --,, the Freich and B'aAftiiaans, undier Moreau, and fee fy • 
ma V^l Austrians, under 5he ArcliAiIte John. The Aus- deceived favouf 
from t trians visre defeated, with the Ibaa of UfiK^aen. ' 

The French loss was 9(XW. ' - \ 

At Av.<i«erlit2, on file id Dec, 19<:i-5, Napoleom j , 

gained a great victory over the allied Austrian and ! 
Whpn I Russian army. The allies, out o5 80.000 men, lost 
* '"-" 30,0(10 iri, lulled, wounded and prisoners. The ;l lilundered ? 
n hat 1, French lost 12,(100. |i to the extinc- 

tion oj At Maida, a small town in Naples, on the 4th of | 
Wlnt J JwlVi l^'-'Ji v.'as one of the most retaar&able battles ' , , , „ 
. i on record. A small English force under Sir L. rum of the Ro- 
man i Stewart, defeated a greatly superior French force. 
Who TV The FreiTch, out of 7500 men engaged, had 700 
killed, between :W00arid'400Owfi^;ndied, and 1000 
prisoners. ThaBritish lost only 44 Itilled, and 284 | 
wounded. 

At Jena, in Central. Germany, in the Dachy of 
Ra.xe Weimar, on tbe 14th Oct., 1906, the grand 
French artny, mider Napoleon, totally defeated the 
Frussians, led by their king and the Duke of Bruns- 
wick, the latter oJ.whom was k?Ued in tbe battle. 
The Prussians Io8t30,000menin killtaaud wound- 
ed, and nearly as many^risoners. The Frenich had 



When 
By wh( 



From V 

rived 

What^l 



originally de- 



Of wh£( 14 mo killed and wounded. 
What 



In the terrible battle of Eylau, on the Sth of Fe- 
neonlJ bruary, 1807, the French gained a victory ower the 
^icupit j^m^jj Russian and; Prussian army, bu,t at a vast 
The allies lost -25,000 and the 



Were tl 
Goths 
What c 
What g 
Was it 1 



What ai 
VTio ar( 



a3 a warlike 



sacrifice of life. 
French 30,000 m#n. 

At Fritdland, in Prussia, the French again de- 
fratedthe allied Rassians aad PrussiaJis, on the „„„_.. u„ tu- 
l(ith of June, 1807. The allies lost 17,000 laen, in ^u^rea oy in« 
kilUd and wornded; the French 8000. - 

At VVagiam, a village of Lower Austria, eleven [ly? 
miles from Vienna, Napoleon fought a gieat battle ^ -f -«„-,, ^.f j 
with the Austrians, on the 6th of June, 1809. The f conquesi . 
armies 1 01 teach 25 ,000 men in killed and wounded, 
but the French remained masters of the field. 

At Talavera, in Spain, on the 27th and 28th of 
July, 1809, the English and Spinish troops, under 
the Duke of Wellington, 'totally defeated the p? 



ao an French, under Joseph Bonaparte and Marsha s > wIiabo »»•- lr« 
X-l Ail] Jourdon and Victor. The British and Spanish **""■* ^^•*« 
,'ost 6-2(58 men, ai.d the French 8796 killed and 1 
WflUJided. ,- -- ' . •" , . _. ^^ , 'p !K^_) 



434. 

435. 

431}. 
437. 

438. 

43y. 

440. 

441. 
442. 
443. 
444. 
445. 

446 



How loi 
■W hat V 
When f 

severe 
A\ hat p 

the CO 
What r( 
What 
When q 
"SVho w 
What p 

seque 
When V 

of Ens 



QUESTIONS. 

TVV.«n 1- At Albuera, ill Spain, on the 16th of May, 1811, ^_ «„ j «„♦ :«. 
^^•^^n t*e British and afliet, under General Be/eWord, FC, and put it 

lintler gained a victory over the French, uiider JVlarshal 
When I Soult. The French loss was 8000; that of the 
\\u,t ], allies nearly 7000, the British alone having lost 
nn.iL «l 43n,,outof'750(>1;ngaged. When the muster of ouQ^ 
British refiiment was called after the batt'.e, ouly ' 
three privates and one drummer answered to their ?axons ? 

On ttre heights, four miles from Salamanca, in o'^'' ""'^^'" <*"« 
Spain, the English and Sminiards, under Welling- 
ton, totally dtfeated the French, under Maruiont, this, desolated 
on the aad July, 1H12. The allies lost 5200 men, 
and the Fr«:'nch 16,000. , j -c v i> 

At the battle of Smolerski, in Russia, in 1312, t ana Egbert r 
ilif French loss was 17,000, and that of the Rusjians 
10, (,00. 

At Borcdlljo, on the 7th September was fought 
a dtsperate battle between tbe R ussians and French. 
The French lost in killed, wo laded and prisoners, ' England sub- 



447. 
44». 
449. 



450, 
451. 



453. 



45^. 
455. 
456. 
457. 

' 460. 
461. 
46'2. 
463. 
464. 



What \v 
Hiw m; 

How di( 
civilizi 



> 



50,000) and the Russians about the same number. 
The survi\ors of the French army, from the Rus- - .. 
si an campaign, were not more than 35,000 «m of "^O* I"* 
an army of 500,000 men. 

At I.utzen, m Russian Saxony, on thslSTMafT*! 
1813 the allied Russian and Prus-sian forces -Wcfre 
dtfeated by the French, undcrNapoleon, the French ' 
losing 18,000 and tLe allies 15,000 men. Lj ? 

At Bautz« n, in Saxony, on the 21st and 2-2d May, I 
1833, a battle took place between the allies and the 
French, in which tie French loss was put down at as in point 
25,0t:0, and ! hat of the allies 15,000. 

At Dresden, in Saxony, on the 26th and 27th Au- 
gust 1815, tbe allies were defeated by the French. 
The loss of the allies was about 2.5,m00 ^n killed, 
■\\'i - _„ wounded and prisoners, and that of the French i 
W ho wa| ai,,mt ,2,o(K). ' 

At Leipsic, in Saxony, in October, 1813, a 4es- Europe duT* 
in'* the! perate batWfe was fought, which lasted three days, 
W'i'-it ,.- and the FiOjpch were' totally defeatrd by the allies. • i r • 

\\ liai \\\ NapoleoB-^ost two marshals, twenty generals and ^ PO»ni of CIT» 

ilizatior about 6(i,000 men. The allies lost 1,790 otiicers and ■ 
^^'hat wa abouv4(>,s »■ r.. jn. 

• , At Vittor-:', !Ji S/nin, on the 21st .Tune, 1813, the 
-' l&ijgtish and Frcutu fought a batile, in which the 
i^^ieh io.st rCoorand En-lish 5180 men. 
WViQt T^ ATtrTwilouse, in France, >,Vellingtoa defeated the 
»> nai w.^ pjene-h. under Soult. on thel^h of April, 1814. 
U liat wa French loss, 4700, allied army's loss, ^oSii....^ 
What imj At Paris, the allies lost 90s)3 men, and the Fretvth 
Whlcli \y a^out4500. 

,,,, '' At Ligny, in France, a baftle occurred between 

\\ ho wen the Prussians and French, on the 16th of June, 1815, 
or ? ' tw6 days befire the battle of Waterloo, in wliich 

Who ffCfi tb€ Prussians lost 15,000 men, and the French OS.'O. 
1VU .. 1 In the indecisive battle at Quatre Bras, in Bel- 
What Cloi gium, on the ]6tb June, the ddybLfore that of Wa- 
V\'hat wa! terloo. the allies lost .V200 men, and the French 114 
Wlio SUCC' ' At Waterloo, the total loss of the allies was 10,036 

Hmen. Napoleon's wa? :iliout4i ,000. 
ow earn; _ I ._ 4^p^,«,,,„^^.„ ^^,^^uy . 

Under what soverei<jn was the Magna Charta produced 



he Emperors * 



the conquer. 



^ SECTION XVI. 

I 465. WHiat two factions were there in Italy in the thirteenth century? 

466. AVhat occasioned them r 

467. What was the political state of Europe at this time ' 

SECTION XVII. 

468. Who was the first promoter oj" the Crusades ? 

469. What was the object of the Crusades .^ 

470. What was the number of Peter's army, and when did he 

his crusade to the Holy [.and ? ^ ^. , w ', 



16 QUESTIONS. 

471. What became of this army ? 

472. When was a seco;?d crusade undertaken and how many enpfedis 

it ? 

473. What was the fate of this expedition? 

474. Who headed the third crusade ? 

475. When was the fourth fitted out ? 

476. What particular si.ccess attended one, and what was its issue? 

477. Who undertook the last crusade into the East? 

478. What became of Lewis IX. ? 

479. How mioy, is it supposed, of the persons who engaged in the cm 

sades, perished ? 
48C. What benefit resulted from the crusades ? 

SECTION XVIII. 

481. How was the profession of arms esteemed among the Germans? 
48"?. What is said to have been ch.tracteristic of the Gothic manners? 

483. When did chivalry attain its perfection ? 

484. What writings accompanied the adventures of chivalry? 

485. Are works of fiction capable of producing good moral effects? 

SECTION XfX. 

486. When did the crusaders take Constantinople ? 

487. How long did the French emperors govern it? 

488. When may the rise of the house of Austria be dated? ' 

489. How did the states of Italy compare at this time with most of the 

other countries of Europe ? 

490. What severe and bloody measure was adopted in relation to the 

Knights Templars ? 

SECTION XX f^,. fj 

491. When did Switzerland become independent ? -^VVAf 

492. By what name was it then called ? J 

493. To what government lind it been subject? 

494. VVhint was the number of battles fought before it became indepen- 

dent ? 

SECTION XXI. 
405. What prince imposed a tribute on all the Italian states ? 
49'i. In whose lime was the l^opedom removed to Avignon? 

497. How long did it remain there ? . 

498. \\\ml act disti»t;uished the reign of Charles IV^ ? 

499. Wlio summoned the council of Constance, 1414? 

WJO. What martyrdoms were the consequence of this council ? 
DOl. By whom was the wealth of the Germanic states possessed? 

SECTION XXII. 

50^. What character is given of Henry HI. ' , ; 

503. By whom was he made a prisoner ? ' f 

504. \\'ho succeeded Henry III. on th<: throne of England ? 

505. When and by whom was W^les conquered ? / '^, 

SECTION XXIII. 

506. What is the state of the Scottish history before the lime of Malcolo 

m. ? 

507. Who were the two next succeeding kings of Scotland? 

508. Who became competitors to the crown, 1285. 
609. How was the dispute decided ? 



QUESTIONS. IT 

510. What distinguished warrior arose, at tliis time, to assert the libertiefl 

of his country ? 

511. What became of Wallace? 

512. Who finally succeeded in delivering Scotland from the Eng^lish and 

was crowned sovereign of it, 1306 ? 

SECTION XXIV. 

513. What statute was passed by Edward I. which related to taxes and 

imposts ? 

514. Hovf many times in his reign is he said to have ratified the Magna 

Charta? / 

515. With how large an army did he invade Scotland ^ 

516. With what force did Bruce meet him? 

517. Who dethroned Edward II. and under what circumstances? 

518. In what manner did Edwa.d III. revenge the murder of his father? 

519. On what did he found his claim to the throne of France ? 

520. When are the English said for the first time to have used artillery in 

battle? 

521. What king of France was carried captive to England, and by whom ? 
52-2. What became of the captive king of France ? 

523. Who succeeded John in France and Edward III. in England ? 

SECTION XXV. 

524. What became of Richard II. and who succeeded him ? 

fiSS. What was the origin of the quarrels between the houses of Lancas 
ter and York ? 

526. What induced* Henry V. to invade France? 

527. What was the result of this expedition ? 

528. On what terms did Henry V. receive a right to the throne of France 

during the life of Charles VI. ? 

529. By what aid was Cliarles VII. enabled to secure the throne of Franc© 

to liiiiiseir?' 

530. What became of the Maid of Orleans ? 

531. What was the state of society in Europe at this period? 
632. What circumstances show that it was in a low state? 

SECTION XXVI. 

533. At what time did the Turks cross over into Europe ? 

534. What Asiatic conqueror arose in the 14th century, who for a time 

checked the Turks in their career of conquest and oppression ? 

535. What efliefct did the death of Tamerlane have on the Turks? 

536. What p.-iuce subjected Constantinople to the power of the Turks ? 

537. When did this take place, and how long had the eastern empire 

then subsisted ? 

538. Did this terminate the empire of the East, as it was termed ? 

SECTION XXVII. 

539. What is the government of Turkey ? 

540. What limits and restraints are there upon a Turkish Soltan ? 

541. What is the character of the people ? 

542. With what officer are the principal functions of the g;overnnent es- 

trusted ? 

543. How are the revenues of the government obtained ? 

SECTION XXVIII. 
B14. What greatly increased the power of the French crown in the 16tb 
century ? 2* 



18 QUESTIONS 

645. What was the character of Lewis XI,* 

546. Who were the two immediate successors of Lewis XL, on the thron« 

of Fiance ? 

547. In what foreig^n enterprise did Charles VIII. of France engag;e ? 

SECTION XXIX. 

648. What circumstanre united the kingdoms of Arragon and Castile 
under the same sov^rpigns ? 

549. What instiLutions were lormed in this period for the discovery and 

punishment of crimes ? 

550. When did Ferdinand take the title, king of Spain ? 

551. How long time did the dominion of the Moors continue in Spain? 

552. On what account and when did Ferdinand expel the Jews from 

Spain ? 

553. How numerous were they ? 

554. What memorable discovery was made in this reign ? 

SECTION XXX. 
655. What was the character of pope Alexander VI. ? 
556. What became of him ? 
B57. Who conspired to deprive Lewis XII. of Navarre ? 

558. When did he die ? 

SECTION XXXI. 

559. How did the partisans tf York and Lancaster distinguish thetuselvci 

fr-im each other ? 

560. Which party triumphed? 

561. How many of the Lancastrians were slain in the battle near Touton ? 

562. To whom was Edward IV. in the first instance indebted for hit 

throne ? 

563. What caused Warwick to turn against Edward ? 

564. What epithet was given to WarwicK ? 

565. Who was the queen of Henry VI. and what is said of her character ? 

566. What of Henry VI. — of his queen Margaret — and of the Prince, 

their son ? 
5C7. Who was Richard III i 

568. How did he come to the throne ? 

569. What became of him ? 

6"'0. What became of Edward V. ? 

571. How were the Houses of York and Lancaster united, which put a 

period to the civil wars between them ? 

572. What is said of the government of Henry VII. ? 

SECTION XXXII. 

573. What was the state of the feudal system in Scotland ? 

574. What was a constant policy of the Scottish kings ? 

575. What Scottish king was prisoner in London in company with John 

king of France ? 
57^. How long was he held in captivity there ? 

577. How long was James I. held in captivity by the English ? 

578. What advantage did he derive from this captivity ? 
.579. To what end did the five Jameses come ? 

580. With what English sovereign was James V, contemporary, and en- 
gaged in war i* 

SECTION XXXHl. 
B81. What wai the constant policy of the Scottish kings 



QUESTIONS. 19 

SOS. Wliat rendered this policy necessary ? 
5»3. In whom resided the legislative power ? 

584. Of what did the revenue of the sovereign consist? 

SECTION XXXIV. 

585. Who were the first restorers of learning in Europi ? 

586. What sovereigns in this age encouraged the revival of learnings in 

Europe ? 

587. What distinguished genius appeared in the middle of the thirteenth 

century ? 

588. In what did the genius of Bacon discover itself? 

589. What led to a discovery of many of the ancient authors, during the 

fifteenth century ? 

590. What contributed most to the dissemination of knowledge at this 

period ? 

591. To what is to be traced modern dramatic composition? 

SECTION XXXV. 

592. What was the boldest naval enterprise of the ancients f 

593. What parts of Europe were u.iknown to the anciey.ts? 

594. To what sea was the commerce of the ancients mostly confined ? 

595. What cities of modern Europe first became commercial? 

596. When and where was first established a national bank ' 

597. \N hat weie the Italian merchants called in the middle ages? 

598. ^^ hat give rise to bills of Excha.rge ? 

599. When did commerce extend itself to the north of Europe? 

600. For what purpose was the League of the Hanse towns tbrmed ? 

601. When did the woollen manufactures of England become important? 
G02. What English sovereigns in these ages particularly encouraged com* 

merce and the useful arts ? 

SECTION XXXVI. 

603. When was the mariner's compass first used ? 

604. What nation became particularly distinguished in the fifteenth cen- 

tury for naval enterprise ? 

605. When and by whom was the Cape of Good Hope doubled ? 

606. How extensive did the Portuguese possessions in India become at 

this time ? 

607. What effect had these discoveries on the commerce of Europe ? 

608. V\'ho mrtde repeated attempts to destroy the trade of the Portuguese? 

609. V\'hat besides the Portuguese discoveries ^roduced a sj.irit of sue- 

ces.«ful enterprise in England ? 

610. What has been the increase of population in Britain since the reigit 

of Elizabeth? 

611. What proportion of the population is supposed to be employed in 

niatiufactures and commerce? 

612. How does it appear that there has been a great increase of natioua' 

wealth in Britain ? 

SECTION XXXVII. 

613. Who were the parents of Charlns V. ? 

614. When did he come to the throne of Spain ? 

615. Who was the compt litor of Charles V. for the throne of Austria oh 

the death of Maximilian .' 

616. Who was king of I'.ngland at this time ? 

617. How did the war terminate between Charles and Francis? 

618. With whom did Henry VIII. take part on the renewal of the war? 

619. What induced Charles to conclude a treaty with Francis, in 1544' 



10 UUliSTlUWS. 

620. When and by whom was the order of Jesuits founded ' ... 

621. What was the principle of the order ? ' • 

622. What |;ave Charles perpetual disquiet in Germany? 

623. At what age and where did he resign his dominions ? 

SECTION XXXVIII. 

624. What was the condition of the Germanic empire previous to the reign 

of Maximilian 1 . ? 

625. What emperor acquired the greatest power in Germany ? 

SECTION XXXIX. 

626. What important events distinguished the age of Charles V. ? 

627. Who was a leading character in producing the Re^mation ? 

628. Who was Roman Pontiff at this time ? ;..: -: , „^_ 

629. What practice of the Romish church did Luther first attack' 

630. What procured Henry VIII. the title of Defender of the Faith i_, ' 

631. What distinguished reformer arose in Switzerland? ^ 

632. What sovereign at this time was upon the thrones of Sweden, Den- 

mark, and Norway ? 

633. Who was Gustavus Vasa ? 

634. What act of Leo X and of Christiern II. contributed to the reforma 

tion in the north ? 

635. From what circumstance did the Lutherans derive the name of Prat 

estants ? 

636. Who became a distinguished convert to the doctrines of the refor- 

mation in Geneva ? 

637. What is said of the character of Calvin ? 

SECTION XL. 

633, What reformer arose in England in the middle of the fourteenth cen- 
tury ? 

639. In what way had Wlckliffe prepared the minds of the people of Eng- 

land for the reformation ? 

640. Who was the immediate cause of it? 

841. What led Henry VIII. to declare himself head of the church in Eng- 
land ? 

642. When did he die, and by whom was he succeeded ? 

643. What checked the progress of reformation in England, in the year 

1553 ? 

644. How many Protestants suffered martyrdom during the reign of Mary, 

in tJngland ? 

645. In whose reign did the Protestant religion become established accord- 

ing to its present form in England ? 

SECTION XLI. 

646. Who discovered America ? 

647. To whom did he apply in vain for aid in making discoveries ? 

648. Who finally furnished him for the voyage? 

649. How long after Columbus left the Canaries, before he discovered 

land? ^ . , 

650. In which of his voyages did he discover the continent of America ? 

651. From whom was the name of America received? 

652. How did the Spaniards treat the inhabitants of the newly discovered 

countries ? 

653. When and bv whom was the continent of America explored ? 

654 How long had the Mexican empire been founded at this time ? 

655 Who was the sovereign of it ? 



QUESTIONS. Sj 

656. What Tras the resv.lt of the expedition against the Mexicans ? 

657. Who and with what success attempted to supersede Cortez ? 
638. What hecaine ofMontezunia? 

659. Who was his successor, and what became of him ? 

6e0. Whei. and by whom was an expedition undertaken against Peru ? 

661. \\liat are some of the most important circumstances that attended 

this expedition ? 

662. What became of D'Almagro and Pizarro? 

663. What constituted the principal value of the American Spanish pos- 



SECTION XLII. 

^64. What effect had the success of the Spaniards on the other nationt of 
Europe ? 

665. Who first settled Brazil, Florida, and Canada ? 

666. From what did England derive her right to her American lettle- 

mt'jits ? 

667. Who first planted an English colony in America? 

668. How do those parts of America at first settled by British coloniiti 

compare in natural richness with the Spanish possessions ? 

SECTION XLIII. 

669. What was the state of the fine arts in Europe in the time of J^o X.? 

670. What was their progress ? 

671. In what arts did the Italians excel ? 

672. Who were some of the most distinguished Italian painters? 
67''. Who were some of the most distinguished Italian sculptors? 
67'*. When is the invention of engraving on copper dated ? 

SECTION XLIV. 

675. What is the character of the Turks in the fifteenth century ? 

676. From whom did the Turks take the island of Rhodes ? 

677. From what ancient nation are derived the principles of maritime ja* 

riaprudence existing among modern nations ? 
tiB. What conquests did the Turks make in the sixteenth century? 

SECTION XEV. 

679. What occasioned a revolution in Persia in the latter part of the fif- 
teenth century ? 

680. What is the government of Persia ? 

681. From what country have proceeded the conquerors who occasioned 
the princii)al revolutions of Asia ? 

$82. What singular phenomenon does the kingdom of Thibet exhibit ? 

SECTION XLVI. 

683. Who has furnished the earliest accounts of India ? 

684. How do those accounts compare with the present condition of the 
Hindoos ? 

685. When did the Mahometans begin an establishment in India? 

86. What was the condition of the Mogul empire in the beginning of the 
eighteenth century ? 
587. Who conquered and obtained possession of the Mogul empire about 
the middle of the eighteenth century ? 

SECTION XLVII. 
688. How hare the remains of the ancient knowledge of the HindoM Wot 
preaenred ? 



32 QUESTIONS. 

689. How has the boily of Hindoo people been dirided ? 

690. What inference is to be drawn from this classification of the Hindoos, 

as to their early civilization ? 

691. What was the civil policy of the Hindoos in the time of Alexander 

the great ? 

692. What is the antiquity of some Hindoo compositions lately trans- 

lated ? 
603. What is the antiquity of seme numerical tables lately obtained from 
the Bramins by M. Gentil ? ," 

694. What do the writings of the Hindoo priests demonstrate ? 

695. What is the religion of India generally ? 

SECTION XLVIII. 

696. What is said of the laws and system of governmen+ in China? 

697. When did the Tartars establish themselves permanently in the sov- 

ereignty of China ? 

698. When and by whom was the empire of Japan d'iscovered ? 

699. Who carried on a beneficial trade Avith the people of Japan? 

700. What caused this trade to be broken off? 

701. Why is it that the Dutch are still allowed to trade with the Japa 

nese ? 

SECTION XLIX. 

702. To whom does Sir William Jones trace the origin of the Chinese? 

703. Wiiat is the government of China? 

704. How are honours bestowed in China ? 

705. Wli.it is the state of the sciences in China at this time ? 
7ti6. What arts in China are carried to great perfection? 

707. What are the morals of the Chinese ? 

708. What Chinese writer is said to have produced a good system of mo- 

rality ? 

709. What is the religion of the emperor and the higher mandarins ? 

SECTION L. 

710. What was the opinion of Mr. Ballly concerning the arts and sciences 

among the nations of the east ? 

711. How long have they been statioiKiry with the Chinese? 

71". At how early a period are the Chaldeans represented to hare been 
an enlightened people ? 

713. Is the opinion of Mr. Biilly well founded ? 

SECTION LI. 

714. Who took Calais from the English for the French? 

715. How long had it been in possession of the English? 
7J6. What was the character of Philip H. ? 

717. The government did he confer on the Prince of Orange? 

718. For what purpose did he establish the Inquisition in those provinces' 

719. What led to the establishment of the republic of the seven unite* 

piovinces ? 

720. What is the chief magistrate called ? 

721. What became of the Prince of Orange ? 

722. Who aided this republic in obtaining independence ? 

SECTION LII. 

723. What was the government of the seven united provinces ? 

724. What important evil is there in the constitution of the gOTernmentt < 

725. What was the authority of the chief magistrate ? 



QUESTIONS. at 

726. Who admott annihilated the republic ? 

727. When was the Stadtholdership made hereditary ? 

SECTION LIII. 

728. How was the loss of the Netherlands compensated to Philip II.? 

729. When did he take possession of Portugal ? 

730. What naval enterprise engaged the attention of Philip? 

731. What was the result of it? 

732. What is the character of Philip ? 

SECTION LIV. 

733. What accelerated the progress of reformation in France ? 

734. What two parties were engaged in a civil war in the latter part af 

the sixteenth century ? 
7^5. \Vhen was the massacie of St. Bartholomew? 

736. What was the character of Charles FX. of France ? 

737. Who were his two immediate successors ? 
7.38. What became of them ? 

739. What great project was Henry IV. meditating, when a&sassinated ? 

SECTION LV. 

740. When did Elizabeth come to the throne of England ? 

741. What was the state of the kingdom during her reign? 

742. What fixed a stahi on Eli5:abeth''s character? 

743. Under what pretence did Mary of Scots assume the arms and title of 

queen of England ? 

744. What form of religion became established in Scotland, in the reign of 

Elizabeth ? 

745. 'Wlio was a distingiiished reformer in Scotland? 
74G. Who were the two husbanda of Mary? 

747. How came Mary in the hands of Elizabeth ? 

748. Under what pretence was Mary condemned and executed? 

749. How long was she a captive in England' 

750. At what age and when did Elizabeth die ? 

SECTION LVI. 

751. Who succeeded Elizabeth on the throne of England? 

752. What rendered .lames unpopular with his subjects ? 

753. AVhat was the object of the gunpowder treason? 

754. By whom was the conspiracy formed ? 

755. AVhat was a favourite object with James? 

756. Wiio was his successor ? 

757. What were some of the principal fubjects of dispute between Charles 
and his parliaments ? 

What caused the Scots to rebel and take up arms against the govern- 



758. 



mcnt of Charles ? 

759. What two distinguished individuals at this time were impeached by 

the commons and beheaded? 

760. What important occurrence was there at tins time in Ireland ? 

761. When the civil war commenced, who were on the side of the kin*, 

and who on that of the parliament? 

762. Who directed Lhe measures of the army of parliament ? 

763. In what way was Cromwell able to procure the death of Charles ? 

764. 'When was he beheaded ? 

765. How far were the proceedings of the commons justifiable? 



|4 CkUESTIOfJS. 

SECTION LVII. 

766. What part did the parliament of Scotland take iu regard to the king ? 

767. On what condition was Charles H. proclaimed king of Scotland? 

768. Who were the Coicnanlers of Scotland ? 

769. What became of Charles II. when overcome by Cromwell? 

770. What was the title of Cromwell? 

771. What was the character of his government? 

772. At what age did he die, and who was his successor? 

773. What was the parliament called that put to death king Charles? 

774. Under what circumstances and when was Charles II. restored ? 

SECTION LVIII. 

775. What was the character of Charles II. ? 

7';6. When were the epithets of Whig and Tory first known, and bow 
were they applied ? 

777. Who was the successor of Charles II. ? 

778. What made him unpopular with his subjects ? 

779. By what means was Charhs removed from the throne ? 

780. On whom was the crown then settled ? 

781. What became of James? 

SECTION LIX. 

702. To what period may the rudiments of the English constitution b« 
traced ? 

783. In whose reign was instituted the trial by jury? 

784. In whose reign did the Magna Cliarta orii,'inate ? 

785. In whose reign was the ^.ct of Habtas Ccrpus passed? 

786. Of what dots the parliament of Great Biitain consist ? 
7S7. Of what does the house of lords consist ? 

788. Of what does the house of commons consist ? 

789. What is th'3 act of Habeas Corpus ? 

SECTION LX. 

790. How are the pecuniary supplies of the sovereign obtained ? 

791. When did the English national debt arise? 
79'2. What constitutes the Sinfchis: Fund ? 

793. Is it probable the debt will ever become extinct ? 

SECTION LXI. 

794. To what minister was France indebted for much of her good success 

in the reign of Lewis XIII. ? 

795. What was the character of Lewis XIII. ? 

79C. What became the condition of the Protestants in the reign of Lewis 
XIII. ? 

797. When did he die ? 

SECTION LXII. 

798. WTiat weak and despicable act did Philip III. commit? 

799. When did Portugal become an independent sovereignty ? 

800. Who became her first king ? 

801. What is said of Spain in the reigns of Philip III. and IV.? 

SECTION LXIII. \ 

802. What was the condition of Germany when Charles V. abdicated th« 

throne ? 

803. What was then and for a long period afterwards a subject of cooteOi 

tion in Germany ? 



QUESTIONS. 16 

904. What peace put a period to this contention? 
{{05. When did the peace of Westphalia take place ? 

SECTION LXIV. 

806. When did Lewis XIV. come to the throne of France? 
H07, At what age ? 

80li. V\ hat led to a civil war in the early part of his reign ? 
r>09. When did -Mazarin die? 

«10. ^Vhat change took place in the affairs of France at this time ? 
f;i 1. What was reckoned one of the weakest and most impolitic measurcj 
of Lewis XIV. ? 

812. What was the state of the finances of France in the latter part of 

the reign of J^cwis XIV. ? 

813. What character is given of Lewis XIV. ? 

814. At what age and when did he die ? 

SECTION LXV. 

815. What change took place in the government of France, under the 

Capetian race of kings f 

816. What power arose to limit and check the royal prerogative, iu and 

from the reij;n of Lewis XIII. 

817. What made the pewf^rs of parliament a constant subject of dispute? 

818. In what way was the crown of France to descend? 
8i9. What was the established religion of France ? 

820. What took place in the assembly of the Galilean church, in 1682 ? 

SECTION LXVI. 

321. What two distinguished characters in the north of Europe were 
contemporary with Lewis XIV. ? 

822. When is Russia said to have received Christianity? 

823. What sovereign first published a code of laws in Russia? 

824. Wlien Avas Siberia added to the Russian empire'' 

825. When and how did Peter b'-come master of the Russian empire ? 

826. How was the early part of his life spent ? 

82',. V/hat method did he adopt to improve himself in the sciences and 
useful arts ? 

828. When and at what age did Charles XII. come to the throne of Sweden? 

829. At what age and with what success was his first campaign made ? 

830. \^'hat change did he eifect in the government of Poland ? 

831. By whom was he defeated ? 

832. How many of his army remained to him after this defeat? 

833. To what means did Charles then resort to regain his lost power ? 

834. What became of Charles XII. ? 

835. When did Peter the Great die ? 

SECTION LXVII. 

836. Who were the principal philosophers in the seventeenth century ? 

837. For what was Galileo imprisoned ? 

838. What institutions were formed which contributed to the advaace- 

ment of science and the arts ? 

839. What work of Newton contains the elements of all philosophy ? 

840. What wag Locke's theory concerning: the human mind? 

841. What are some of the most distinguished poetical productions of 

modern times ? 

842. Who are some of the most eminent English Poets i 

843. Who were distinguished writers in history during the 16th ead 1?<1> 

centuries r ^ 



26 QUESTIONS. 



APPENDIX 



HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 

SECTIOIN I. 

144, What constitutes the basis of the first historical records? 
8-44. Ho'^v can we account for the fabulous relations of the first histo- 
rians ? 

846. From what period are the details in profane history to be received 

as facts ? 

847. What historical records are the most ancient as well as the most ra- 

tional ? 
843. What historical facts do they contain, not found in ether history ? 

SECTION II. 

849. Who were the Israelites? 

850. Why were they suffered to be subdued by the Romans ? 

851. In what condition do their descendants exis't .' 

852. What circumstance illustrates the truth and inspiration of the pro- 

phetic writings ? 

SECTION III. 

853. How long: before Herodotus did Moses live ? 

854. What acknowledj^ment did Porphyry mrke as to the antiquity ol 

the writings of Moses .' 
j55. What pagan traditions confirm the truth of the Pentateucli ? 

856. What is said of Zoroaster ? 

857. \^'hat Jewish historian successfully vindicates the authority of the 

Jewish scriptures ? 

SECTION IV. 

858. What are the principal facts recorded in the book of Genesis ? 

859. What ren.arkable prophecy of Isaiah is there concerninig ( yrus' 
800. And what one concerning Babylon ? 

861. What was the length of time from the giving of the law to Moses to 
the reformation in worship anil gavernment of the Jews by Nehe 
mi ah ? 

8G2. What hereditary distinction of rank existed among the Jews ? 

863. What is said of Moses, KlJsha, and Gide'-n ? 

864. What internal undoubted characteristic of truth is there in the scrip- 

tures ? 

SECTION V. 

865. When was the creation of the world accomplished ' 

B66. What was one of the most remarkable circumstances of the nntedi 

luvians ? 
B67. How long did some of the oldest of them live ? 

868. Why did the Almighty destroy the world by a deluge of water ? 

869. Who were saved from it and by what means? 

BIO. Who were some of the first inventers of the useful arta? 

SECTION VI. 
871. What is laid of the three sons of Noah ? - " 



QUESTIONS. y: 

672. Wliat is the most important event between the delu|^ and tht tmll 
of Abraham ? 

873. Of what city was Babel the beginning ? 

SECTION VII. 

874. From whom do the Jews derive theii origin ? 

873. What relationship was there between Jacob and Abraham? 
87(). How ca.iie Joseph, the son of Jacol), to be in l"3gypt? 

877. By what means was he made governor of Egypt ? 

878. How came his father and brethren to remove thither? 

879. H jw long did the Israelites remain in Egypt ? 

880. What were some of the circumstances connected with their IcaTiag 

it? 

881. How long after leaving Egypt did Moses die ? 

SECTION VIII. 
8R2. What caused a league to be formed between the Syrian chiefs? 
88J. Who vas the successor of Moses in the government of Israel ? 
B!M. il-^w were the Israelites governed alter the death of Joshua? 
8!!5. Who w?re the two last Judges of Israel ? 
8b6. What change look place in the government on the death of Saaiuel f 

SECTION IX. 

('!;7. U'hat was the original government of Israel called ? 

},(;8. V\ hat moral and political change took place on the death of Joabl*«^ 

ill the iKiidilion of l.sratl? 
8!iy. Why was the regal government introduced ? 

SECTION X. 

890. Flow long did Saul rei£;n over Israel? 

«';|. IJy what means v.y<; David raised to the throne as his successor? 

liU^2. V\ hat pros]ierous events characterize J the reign or l>^~ia > 

89j. \A'!ial adverse ones characterized it ? 

834. How lonjr did IJavid reign, and who succeeded him ? 

fi9h. Wliat is the most remarkable event in the reign of Solomon ? 

89»). What books are ascrilied to him ? 

897. I'niier what circumstances was the kingdom divided ? 

898. Dy what names v/ere the two kingdoms subsequi;ntly to this division 

called ? 

89"^. What became of tlie ten tribes who constituted the kingdom of Is- 
rael ? 

9(*0. \\'hence sprang the Samaritans ? 

901. When and in what manner ended the kingdom of Judah? 

SECTION XI. 

902. How long were the Jews held captl\e in Babyl'>n ? 
90'J. By whom were they released ? 

9114. I'r Mn what lime and circumstance were the Israelites called Jews? 
905. Wliat caused Alexander the great to march to Jerusaittm with hos* 

tile int. ntions ? 
SilG. By wjiat means was he appeased? 
9il7. XN'hat favours did he then bestow on them ? 

908. What advantage di<l Ptolemy take of the regard which the Jews paid 

to the Sabbath ? 

909. In wliat manner did the five brothers named Maccabeus becom* dU* 

tinguished ? 

910. Wlu) was their father ? 



28 



UUEaTlUWS 



91 1. When and by whom were the Jews subjected to the Aoiuanb .' 

912. Who was then placed ou the throne of David under the protection 

of the Romans ? 

913. By what meikiorable event was the reign of Herod di8tin°:uished ? 
B14. By whom anil when was the Jewish nation extinguished ? 

915. How many Jews are supposed to have perished in their last wai 

with the Romans ? 

SECTION XU. 

916. What is the period of scriptural history? 

917. Where is it supposed that the Jews obtained their knowledg;<>of th« 

arts and sciences ? 

918. What was the state of commerce among the Jews? 

919. With what inference does Tytltr conclude his work on history ? 



CONTINUATION, OR PART THIRD 

SECTION ). 

920. What was the age of Lewis XV. when the crown of France descend 

ed to him ? 

921. When and what heirs to the crown f France, died within a few 

mouSeis ? 

922. What made it necessary for France < i the death of Lewis XIV. to 

preserve peace with foreiirn states ? 
523. 'U'ho was regent of France during the n inority of Lewis XV. ? 

924. What distinguished minister was at the court of Spain, in this 

period ■ 

925. W^hat wa= «i»^ v-haractcr of Uie duk* of Orleans, the regent of 

t ranee ' 

926. By what means were the duchies of Lou lin and Bar made to revert 

to France ? 

SECTION II. 

927. W^ho succeeded queen Anne on the throne of Britain? 

928. ^Vhat arts of jiarliament had passed connected with the accession 

of George 1. concerning religion ? 

929. Wlien did he enter his new dominions ? 

930. How did the rebellion of 1715 in Scotland, terminate? 

931. By what name were thi adherents to the Pretender called ? 

932. By what name was the party called to whicn George I. committed 

the government of the realm ? 

933. Who was king of Sweden at this time ? 

934. For what purpose and by whom was he nearly instigated to invacl« 

Britain ? » 

935. What ruined the prospects of Alberoni ? 

930. In wh;H way did he attempt obtaining icvenge? 

9.37. Why did he not succeed ? 

9ci<}. At what age and when did George I. die ? 

SECTION IIL 

939. When did Charles VI. become emperor of Austria and Germany r 

940. Who ^vas the Au.«trian conmiander in the first war of Charles VI. 

with the Tuika? 



QUESTIONS. 89 

941. Wliat arrangement did he make for the desceat of the Austrian 

croAvn ? 

942. What was this arran[,e>iient or his act in making it called ? 
9-ir3. When rtid Charles Vi. die, and who succeeded him? 

944, Was she purmilted to enjoy unmolested the dominions descended to 

her ? 

945. What circumstances were calculated to raise up competitors for d( 

ferent i>ai ».s of her estates ? 
916. Who was the most f-irward and active of the queen's opponents? 

947. What prevented the competitors of the queen from succeeding in 

obtaining^ their claims ? 

948. Which one of them succeeded in obtaining the imperial crown ii 

1741? 

949. Ifow long after this did he live ? 

950. On his death who obtanied the imperial crown ? 

951. When did the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle take place? 

SECTION IV. 

952. At what time and age did George II. come to the throne of Enj- 

land ? 

953. Who was his queen ? 

954. Who was prime minister of England at this time ? 

955. What caused him to resign ? 

956. Upon what two occasions had his views been thwarted ? 

957. When did he die ? 

95i!. What interesting event occurred in Scotland the same year ? 

959. What was the object of the insurrection in Scotland ? 

960. In what battle were the hopes of (he Stuart family for ever blasted ? 

961. What became of the heir of this family after that battle? 

9(i2. What is considered the most melancholy circumstance attending 

the Scottish rebellion .' 
9C3. What singular act of parliament was passed in the year 1751 •• 

964. When and at what age did George II. die ? -'' 

SECTION V. 

965. Py what treaty was the house of Hanover effectually established 

on the British throne ? 

966. How w.\s the British naval force left by this treaty compared with 

the uavai forces of other Euroi)ean nations'' 

967. What did Austria lose by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ? 
96f?. What dill Prussia g;iin by it? 

969. How lid it effect Holland ? 

970. By what moans was Russia introduced into the southern states c* 

Europe ? 

SECTION VI 

971. What became a sulject of jealousy and future warfare, after (he 

peat e of Aix-la-Chapellf, between France and Knjrland ? 

972. hi what respect did the peace of Europe, in 174!1, extend to Asia 

and America ? 

973. What French governor in the East Indies attempted to brin» the 

Mogul empire under the dominion of France ? 

974. In w'l.it way did the French in America train an advanlajre over the 

English ? 

975. When did the French war in America commence ? 

976. What number of French merchant vessels was captured and car- 

ried intc the English por'.s the first year of the war? 
3* 



10 QUESTIONS. 

977. When the war was extended to Europe, what powers ananged 

themselves a»ainst each other ? 

978. Who was king of Prussia at this time ? 

979. What is his character ? 

i80. What has this war been termed ? 

981. How many men have been supposed to have perished annually in 

the campaigns of it ? 

982. What afl vantage did the English gain in America? 

983. What i;t;w :illy did France obtain in the year of 1761 ? 
9!>t. What induced him to join the Itague against England? 

985. What advantages did England gain by this war ? 

986. What change in the ministry of England contributed to the peace* 

SECTION VII. 

987. When did George HI. succeed to the throne of Britain? 

988. What was one of his first acts which showed him to be the friend 

of liberty ? 

989. What gave rise to distressing tumults in the year 1762? 

99X 'low did the measures of lord 13ute ditfer from those of Mr. Pitt? 

991. What contributed to make the first years ot George HI. unquiet? 

992. What besides public addresses and rtmonstrancf s contributed to the 

popular fervour and agitation of public feeling at this period? 

993. What constitutional qu'-stion came; under discussion at this time ? 

994. For what i» the year 1764 remarkable? 

SECTION VIII. 

995. What was the pretence for taxing the American colonies ? 

996. What was the first instance of imposing direct taxes without their 

consent ? 

997. When was this imposed ? 

998. When was it formally repealed ? 

999. What reason is there for supposing that the Americans did not con 

t( inplate independence when they first made opposition to the 
British government ? 

1000. How long was it after the passing of the stamp act before the com- 

mencement of hostilities ? 

1001. When and where was American independence declared? 

1002. Who were sent to France, and when, to solicit aid for the Ameri- 

cans ? 

1003. What other powers besides that of France, united against England ? 

1004. When did Great Britain ratify the treaty which admitted the Amer- 

ican independence ? 

SECTION IX. 

1005. Who laid the foundation f -r the French revolution ? 

1006. Why were the Jesuits banished from Portugal in the year 1750 ? 

1007. What charge was attempted to be fixed on them at Paris, subse- 

quent to this ? 
1000. When was the order of Jesuits abolished in France ? 

1009. From what other countries were they expelled, and when? 

1010. Whom did the dauphin of France, afterwards Lewis XIV. marry? 

1011. When did he come to the throne ? 

1012. When was an alliance formed between the court of Versailles and 

America? 

1013. Who were the most eminent friends of liberty in the British parlia 

ment? 
\C^14. What, at this time, produced an extraordinary effect on the Part 
sians, againa"; the extravagance of the French court? 



QUESTIONS. SL 

1015. What particular difficulties had the king to encounter i 
1016 What, in the year 1783, tended to hasten the French reyolation 
and bring matters to a crisis ? 

1017. Who nrst called for the states-general ? 

1018. Who was in the French ministry when the states-general was call- 

ed^ 

SECTION X. 

1019. What inconsistency was there in the conduct of Maria Theresa con- 

cerning Poland ? 

1020. Wh»t led to a war between Austria and Prussia, in the year 1778 ? 
1J21. What part did Austria take in regard to the war for American in- 
dependence ? 

1022. When and at what age did Maria Theresa die ? 

SECTION XI. 

1023. How long before the death of his mother, Maria Theresa, did Jo- 

seph II. come to the imperial throne of Austria ? 

1024. In what manner did he labour to acquire the information needful t« 

his subjects ? 

1025. What was the population of his dominions ? 

1026. What important edict was passed by him, October 31, 1781 ? 

1027. Wht-n did the Netherlands declare themselves independent of Aus- 

tria ? 

1028. When did Joseph II. die, and by whom was he succeeded.' 

1029. How long did Leopold reign ? 

1030. Who succeeded him and when ? 

1031. What evil did he experience Irom taking part against the French 

revolutionists ? • 

1032. By whom were the Austrians assisted against the French in the 

war of 17y9 ■' 

SECTION XII. 

1C33. When was the states-general assembled ? 

1034. What was the French state prison called ? 

103.5. What became of it ? 

1036. How many families were there at this time in France of the ancient 

hereditary nobility .'' 

1037. In what way did the king attempt to rescue himself from the re- 

straints imposed on hin.'' 
lOf'S. When was the national assembly dissolved ? 

1039. \\hat f)revented Sweden and Russia from engaging^ in hoatillliea 

against the French .' 

1040. What furnished the demagogues with opportunity for charging^ the 

king with makinsj war upon his people .' 

104 1. What has this period of the French history been called .' 

1042. Who was at the head of affairs in France ? 

1043. How many, suspected of being aristocrats, were assassinated on th« 

second of September .' 

1044. When was the king brought to trial ? 
104.=i. When was he executed ? 

1046. Into how many factions were the revoluti.-tnists divided, and what 

were they called ? 

1047. Which one triumphed ? 

•04n What became of the queen of France ? 



aifESTIONS. 



SECTION XIII. 

1049. What chansre to>k place in the ministry of Great Britain afler the 

peace with America? 
lOaO. W ho 5iif reeded Mr. F'>x in the nrili?h ministry ? 
lUr>l. \\hHt is the !^inkih» Fund oCGreat Britain? 

1052. W hat important prosecution was undertaken at this time l>y the 

British par'iament ? 

1053. IIow long did it last, and what was its result ? 

1054. When was the attention of the house of common* first called to the 

slave trade ? 

1055. When was it abolished ? 

1056. What event compelled the British parliament to meet on the 20th 

o'^ November, 17«o? 

1057. M'hat occurrence ierose to threaten war between England and 

Spain, in the year 1790? 

1058. AN'hat h-d to the declaration of war against the king of Great 

Bi-itain, by France, in tlie year 1793? 

1059. Wiih what success was the war prosecuted ? 

I0(>0. AVnat important occurrence took place in Ireland, 17n»? 

1061. What important event to Ireland succeeded the suppression of the 

rebellion ? 

1062. What took place in India during the last year of the eighttcnth 

century ? 

1063. What led to the peace of Amiens, between France and England, 

October 1st, 1801 ? 

SECTION XIV. 

1064. W'hat was the situation of France towards the close of the year 

1793 ? 

1065. What took place oA the 17th of November, 1793? 

1066. What alteration was there made in the calendt.. ? 

1067. A\'hen and where f^d iN'apoloon Bonaparte first distinguish himself? 
lOGfi. What became of Robespierre ? 

1069. ^^'hat was the government of France, established and proclulaicd 

in 1795? 

1070. What were the affairs of France externally at (his time ? 

1071. Who were some other most distinguijhod generals? 
107-2. What territories were added to the French republic ? 

1073. What became of Lewis XVII. ? 

SECTION XV. 

1074. When did Bonaparte receive the chief coii.mand of the French 

army in Italy? 

1075. What was his age at that time ? 

10.6. On the reduction oi Mantua, what did he state to his soldiers had 
been their sucess ? 

1077. Why were the Venetians unwilling to lake part either with the 

Austrians or French ? 

1078. Of what dishonourable conduct was Bonaparte guilty, in relation 

to the Venetians ? 

1079. What took place on the 4th and 5(h of September, 1797? 

1080. Upon what expedition did Bonaparte enter, in the year 1798? 

1081. What success did he have in this expedition ? 

1082. What lessened his triumph and »ave a new turn to the war? 

1083. What change took place in the French government on BouapArte*£ 

return from Egypt? 



QUESTIONS. 33 

.084. When, by whom and with what result was the battle of MaKngo 

fought ? 
1085. \^'hen and between whom was the treaty of Luneville 8i<nied ? 
lOPfi. W.icn and between whom was the treaty of Amiens signed? 

1087. What w&s the French power, and what were her possessions at thia 

time ? 

SECTION XVI. 

1088. What regulation did Bonaparte make for religion in France ? 
1089 What took place on the 2d of August, 1802 ? 

1090. What led to a renewal of hostilities between France and Ensrland, 

1803? 

1091. On ',he rene'wal of hostilities, what security did Bonaparte take for 

the future good conduct of England? 

1092. What military enterprise did he project? 

1093. What took place on the 18th of May, and the 2d of December, 

1804 ? 

1094. Why did general Moreau come to America ? 

1095. What induced Russia, Prussia, and Austria, to unite in hoatilitiet 

against Napoleon ? 

1096. What took place on the 21st of October, 1805? 

1097. After what battle did the emperor of Austria solicit peace ? 

1098. What appeared to lead to the exaltation of Joseph Bonaparte lo 

the throne of Naples? 

1099. What change took place in the government of Holland, in 1806' 

1 100. What change took place, in the same year, in the political conajtion 

of Germany? ,,..„,. .^ .,ovember, of th^a year ? 

1101. How came Bonaparte to be m tseriy; „ui„ ^u^,^? 
110^ Whit extrn-rri;,.*-,- J— = -^"C he dictate, while there? 

1103. wnat concessions did the emperor of Russia make to the French 

emperor in the treaty of Tilsit ? 

SECTION xvn. 

1104. When did Charles IV. come to the throne of France? 

1105. What caused the Spaniards, in 1793, to invade France? 

1106. What was the consequence of this invasion to Spain? 

1107. By what means did St. Domingo fall into the hands of the French? 
hob'. What led to the war between England and Spain in 1805 ? 

1109! Why <Hd the royal family of Portugal remove to America, and when ? 
llioi On what account was Ferdinand arrested and imprisoned by the 
Spanish authorities ? 

1111. By what means was the Spanish throne declared vacant and 

Joseph Bonaparte proclaimed king of Spain ? 

1112. What foreign power aided Spain and Portugal, against the French? 

1 1 13. la what battle were the French beaten and compelled to eracuat* 

Portugal ? o_ • > 

11 14. When and under whom did the British army enter Spain? 

1115. What became of Sir John Moore ? r^ , , 

1116. When did Sir Arthur Wellesley, with fresh troops from tnglaaU. 

enter Spain ? 

1 117. For what service was he raised to a peerage ? 

1118. What battle caused the gates of Madrid to be thrown open to the 

Sparish patriots in 1812? 

1119. When was the battle of Vittoria fought? 

\l-20. What were the consequence; of it to the French? 

SECTION XVIII 
1121. What was the partition treaty between F;rance and Spaia f 



^ QUESTIONS. 

119^ What was the Milan decree? , , „ ^ j 

nit Who was created king of xNaples when Joseph Bonaparte removed 

tlo4 How foCdid the war of Austria last, which commenced in 1809 » 
112S' O . what condition was Austria able to obtain peace ? 

1126. When did Bonaparte's second marna-e take place. 

1127. When was the war renewed with Russia. . . , 

1128. With how lar-e an army did Bonaparte invade Russia, m Ibl^ 
IVZO. What was the success of this expedition ? 

1130 With what force did he comiiience hostilities in 1813. 

l\3\. What battle complet..ly discomfited the French empercr. 

1132. When did the allies pass the Rhine ? 

113:?. When did they reach Paris ? , j. . ,u r k 

1134, On what conditions was Bonaparte permitted to abdicate the irencD 

throne ? 

1135. When did the Bourbons return to Paris? 



SECTION XIX. 
113G. From what cause had Poland suffered much ? 

1 137. What ch:Mige did Charles XH. make in the stale of Pol.and ? 

1 13!!. By the aid of whose power was the family of Augustus kept upon 
the throm. of Poland during the first half of the eighteenth cen- 
tury ? 

1 139. Who succeeded Augustus 111. and when .' 

" r, iV'-.,' ^t^frna' dispute greatly (Hstiacted Poland at this time? 

1(41. \\ ,th whom u.. .^^ ^^^.^^ of dismembering Pol .nd, originate ? 

1112. What reasons were g-ivti. v., .,„, oartitioning rowers for the dis- 
miMubtrmfnt of Poland ? 

1 143 I 'id thf Polrs willingly acquiesce in f'le measure? 

1 144. V\'hrii wHj ihi- divisKni actually agreed upon and sanctioned by Hit 
!'..|ish dief 

: I4.S Wh. n <fi.l a xffnnri partition take place, and when a thinl ? 

I , i«. U h:4! i.er;mie o( Stanislaus, I lie last king ol Poland ? 

! 14" Wh-^ii .H(|.l *iv wh.)m was the Kiiigdoin cKclared re-established? 

' i;.){. >\ tial .= the present political condition of it ? 



SECTION XX. 

\\4') 'Vhsn wfre hostilities rtnewed by England against France? 
! I ii» '.V b^t < !iu5t.d Spam rtiso to be in.olved with Great Britain ? 
! r>i ti.'W (li.l the English violate the rules of justice in regard to Spain ? 

What splrndiil vi< lory did the English obtain over the French 

at:.l Sp-nii-h, in 11)05 ? 
I ib'Z Of what act of injustice were the English judged guilty towards the 

I >aii.-s ' 
I l.'/J. What caused the royal familv of France to take refuge in England, 

1 1.'«4. W).:.t wern the English ordirs in council issued in .'anuary and \o- 

»emt)ei, l!!()7? 
I \hb Wb-n Mas the prince of Wales appointed regent ol Great Britain ? 
i '9,6 \\ by was he appointed : 
I i jl. WhM distinguished personage was assassinated in the month of May, 

1!:12? 
1 !5«. What interesting event took place in Enj^lan 1, in May, 1816? 
1159. By what m-^lancholy event was it succeeded in November uf the 

following year ? 
2160. When did George III. die ? 



QUESTIONS 8S 

SECTION XXI. 

1161. How did the French army feel toward the emperor Napoleon, aAer 

he was exiled ? 

1162. '»Vhen did Onnaparle land in France, on his return from Elba? 
n6a When did he eiitnr i'aris' 

il64. When was tne buKle of Waterloo fought, which for ever tcnninat- 

ed h<5 jiiospects ? 
1105. \Viieii (iiH he arrive at St. Helena, to which he was banished ? 

1 166. \N hat resolution was adopted by the allit.d military coininand( rs in 

relation to the works of art, which the French had collected ir 
fl)rm£^ victories; 

1167. ^\'hat jirecai.tinn did the allies adopt to prevent future revolutions 

ill that country ? 

SF.CTION XXH. 

1168. ^Vho were the three iminediate successors of Peter I. ujion the 

throne of Kiifsi.i? 

1169. How Inns: after (he death of her father did the princess Elizabeth 

C(Miit; to the throne? 
I 170. Ifow loDj; did she reign, and who succeeded her? 
1171. \\hat Lcrame of Peter HI. ? 
I 172. \\ IkU v.as the character of Catharine 11. his widow, who succeed 

< d ? 
1 173. ^^'hen did Alexander, the present emperor of Russia, come to th« 

throne ? 
i 174. What lurame of his predectssor .' 
1 17'3. How long has Prussia existefl as a kingdom.' 

1176. How many kings have reig.ied over it? 

1177. Which of them did most toward raising the kingdom to the ijrsi 

degree of.power and renown? 

1178. ^^'hat two lactions weie there in Sweden in the reign of Frederick' 

1179. How loi.g (lid Gu5l;ai.f 111. reign? 
I IflO. How dill hf fonu- by his death ? 

IIHI. Why did Gustavus'lV. abdicate the throne? 

1 1}!2. \Mio is the present king of Sweden ? 

! lo3. When difl ne come to the throne ? 

1 1SJ4. Hov/ many kings hat's reigned in l)entnark since the close of iht 

seventeenth century ? 
1 ICik In what war was Christian VH. connected with George III. of Erg 

land ? 

1 186. Why did his queen, Caroline Matilda, retire to, and end her day» 

in (Jermany ? 

1 187. Who is the present king of Denmark ? 

SECT/ON XXIH. 

IlfiS. In what disputes was Switzerland involved during the first pari cl 

the 18th century" 
11'JO. ^Vhich of the popes of Rome suppressed the order of Jesuits? 

1190. Who was rasied to the papal chair in 1775? 

1191. At wliat age, when, and where did he die ? 
1 19''2. How came he at Valence ? 

1 193. When was his successor chosen, and by what name is he called? 

1 194. When did he aid in establishing the catholic religion in France? 

1 195. What iiijury did he afterwards receive from France ? 

SECTION XXIV. 
T 196. Who was the reigning prince of India in the beginning of the Ibth 
century ? 



J» QUESTIONS. 

1197. Tc -what 'dge did he live? 
1)9{!= In wh»it manner did he come to the throne? 

11^9. What singular fact is mentioned as evidence of the contentioiM 
common for the throne, with that semi-barbarous peojjle ? 

1200. What chartered privilege has the English East India CcmpaBy 

with this people ? 

1201. When did th^ Company receive this privilege.' 

1202. What description of this people is called Sepoys ? 

1203. Who is regarded as the founder of the British empire in India? 

1204. When did the British parliament make provision to prevent abu?es 

of power in India ? 

1205. What distinguished individuals were instrumental in the first re- 

forms under the new system f 

1206. What is the reason why this system was not scrupulously adhered 

to? 

1207. What was the object of Tippoo in regard to the English ? 

1208. For what object was the East India College established? 

1209. What is the population of British India? 



STATE OF ARTS, SCIENCES, REEIGION, LAWS, GOVERN- 
MENT, &:c. ' 

1210. What countries have been particularly distinguished in literature, 

arts, and science, in the 18th century ? 

1211. Which of the sciences in particular have been much cultivated and 

advanced in that time ? 

1212. In what particulars has chemistry undergone important changes in 

the latter part of the IGth century ? 

1213. Who claim to be the authors of the new theory of cliemislry ? 

1214. What is now ascertained to be the nature of atmospheric air? 
1213. By whom was the discovery of vital air, or oxygen gas, made ? 

1216. To what branch of chemistry is the discovery of the decomposition 

of water owing ? 

1217. Who discovered the constituent parts or principles of water ? 

1218. What are they called ? 

1219. Who are some of the most distinguished chemists of the 18th cen- 

tury ? 

BOTANY. 

1220. Where and when was Linnseus born ? 

12i.l. What is the foundation of his systematic botany ? 
1222. With how many species of plants are botanists now said to be ac- 
quainted ? 
1223.^ What French botanist has done nmch for the benefit of the science ' 

1224. What is the difference between the system of Linna;u3 and th;^t oi 

Jussieu? 

ELECTRICITY. 

1225. Who were some of the persons who first wrote learnedly on tlie 

subject of electricity? 

1226. "Who proved that the electric fluid and lightning are the same 

thing ? 

1227. To what practical purposes did he apply this ? 

1228. Of whom was Galvanism the discovery ? 
122D. What is Galvanism called ? 

12S0. What English philosopher has become much celebrated for Mi eldC- 
tiro-cheraical researches ? 



QUESTIONS. W 

MINERAI.OGY AND GEOLOGY 
)S3l. When did the modem scientific arranvements of mineraj begin to 

occupy the attention of naturalists ? 
1232. Who has the credit of reducin°f the science into claaaet and orden 1 
1^33. From wb-it did geology arise i 

1234. What is geology ? 

GEOGRAPHY. 

1235. What two new quarters of the world have been presented to ui, ia 

the last century, according to the French geographers ? 

1236. What does Australasia include i 

1237. What does Polynesia include ? 

1938. What took place in 1761, in evidence of the improvements in civil!* 
zation ? 

1239. What eminent Prussian traveller has contributed to the perfection 

of geographical knowledge r 

1240. From what period have the Russian sovereigns made laudable eP 

forts to obtain correct greogrraphical information ? 

1241. Has the science of astronomy undergone as great chtuiges as the 

other sciences namsd during the last century? 

1242. How mamy planets have been discovered in that time ? 

1243. What fact is stated from which we can form some conjecture of the 

number of fixed stars ? 



1244. What French writer did much to unsettle the minds of his country* 

men on religion and politics ? 

1245. From whom has it been supposed that Voltaire imbibed his delstical 

sentiments ? 

1246. Who were the principal delstical writers of England ? 

1247. What counteracted the tendency of their writings ? 

124». What other eminent French philosopher visited England, betidei 
Voltaire, about the same time ? 

1249. To what did he principally confine his views ? 

1250. What were the political opinions of Rousseau ? 

1251. What was the origin of the French Encyclopedia ? 

1252. WTiat courts of Europe were thrown open to the French philoao* 

phers ? 

1253. Is it to be supposed that the French philosophers, to whom the rev- 

olution has been imputed, contemplated the awful catastrophe 
of that event ? 

1254. Who was chieily instrumental in introducing the improvements of 

the 18th century into Russia ? 

DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS. 

1255. What are the principal discoveries and inventions of modern time« .' 

1256. What effect had the French revolution on the people of other cv\^' 

tries? 

1257. What moral improvements have taken place in the condition y^ ra- 

rious civilized nations ? 

RELIGION. 

1258. In what countries does paganism prevail ? 

1259. What is the present condition of the Jews ? 

1260. Where does Mahometanism prevail ? 

i 1261. What are the principal sects of the Christian religion ? 
\ 1262. What sects have bjcen most active as missionaries ? 
4 



IB QUESTIONS. 

1S63. Wliat change has the papal authority experienced in the tint «■ 

der couiideralion ? 

HISTORY, POLITE LITERATURE, FINE ARTS, ^ke. 
1264. What Germans have been distinguished in literature, and th* Mam 

arts ? 
.265. Who in France? 

1266. Who in Great Britain ? 

1267. Who in Italy ? 

TREATY OF VIENNA, 1815. 
1S68. What addition of territory was given to Russia, and what new ti« 
tie to the Czar ? 

1269. What is to be the condition of Cracow ? 

1270. Hew did this treaty aflect Saxony ? 

1271. How did it affect Prussia? 

1272. What change took place in the Netherlands ? 



PART FOURTH. 



UNITED STATES. 

SECTION I. 

1273. When and by whom was America discovered ? 

1274. Under whose patronage was it discovered ? 

1275. What part of it was discovered first? • 

1276. Why were the islands first discovered called the West Indies ? 

1277. Why was the continent called America? 

1278. How long time after Columbus sailed from the Canaries before he 

reached St. Salvador? 

1279. To what governments did he apply for patronage without success ? 

SECTION II. 

1280. By whom and when was the contment of North America disco^'cr* 

ed? 

1281. On what account did Virginia derive its name? 

1282. Who ma-le the first attempt to colonize this part of the continent? 
12«3. To whom did Sir Walter Raleigh afterward assign his interest in 

the country? 
1284. Fnim what diil James river take its name ? 
1235. Oil what account did capt. John Smith obtain his first relehae from 

the Indians? 

1286. Who effected his second release from them ? 

1287. On what account was the cultivation of the soil neglected by the 

first colonists ? 

1288. What is the Iwstory of Focnboutas subsequent to saving the life ol 

capt. Smith ? 

1289. A\'ho first brou<_'ht the African negroes into this part of the country ? 

1290. What part ilid the \irjfiniaus take in relation to the rerolulion ot 

the mother country under Cromwell ? 

1291. What was the population of Virginia, in 1686? 



QUESTIONS. W 

SECTION III. 

1592. What wa« the origin of the Plymouth colony.' 

1293. When was the settltment made ? 

1294. Of how many persons did the colony at first consist? 

1295. Of how many did it consist ten years afterwards ? 

1296. How many emigrants came to Massachusetts, in the year 1630? 
12y7. What led to the first settlement of Rhode Island and rrorideuc* 

plantations i 

1298. Who laid the foundation of Hartford, Spriagfield, and Weathers- 

fit Id ? 

1299. When and by whom was New-Hampshire first settled ? 

1300. Whfin did a systematic v/arfare commence between the Eng^lish 

ami Indians ? 

1301. What number of British subjects had settled in New-England, up 

to 1G38? 
1S02. What instances of r<ilio:ious persecution took place in Massachusetts^ 
abij.illhe middle of the 17th century? 

1303. Whfn and what were the particulars of the Salem witchcraft ? 

1304. AN hen was Harvar.I ooll^ge founded ? 

1305. From wh.>m did Maryland derive its nvne, and by whom WHS it 

first s.ttled? 

1306. By whom was New- York first settled ? 

1307. When w-is it surrendered to the Knglish ? 

13(K<. By whom and under what circumstances wad Pennsylrania settled? 

1309. When and by whom was Georgia st ttled ? 

SECTION IV. 

1310. What settlements had the French in America? 

1311. la what way did IVatice endeavour to confine the English within 

narrow limits, or to drive them from the continent? 

1312. When, and what method did the Virginia asseu.oly adopt to sup* 

port the Eniflish claims, over the disputed territory? 

1313. When and with what force was general Braddock sent over to sup- 

port these claims ? 

1314. What was the su^-fPSB of Braddock's expedition ? 

1315. How many campaigns were attended only with expense and disiq^ 

pointment to the English ? 

1316. What led to a change in English prospects? 

1317. What celebrated English general was killed in the capture •/ 

Quebec ? 

1318. How many soldiers did the colonies furnish in the French war? 

1319. When was the British stamp act parsed? 

1320. Where in the colonies was it first opposed ? 

1321. Which of the colonies proposed a continental congress to b« 

at New- York ? 

1322. When was the law repealed ? 

1323. What bill was passed on the repeal of this ? 

1324. What disturbances took place at Boston, in 1763 ? 

1325. What change took place on the elevation of Lord North ? 
132C. What disturbances took place in Boston, in March 1770? 

1327. What took place in 1773? 

1328. What resistance was made, 1773, in Boston, to the British | 

ment in relation to tea ? 

1329. Who was the British commander-in-chief in Boston, at this time i 
13.30. What took place at the congress of 1774, holden in Philadelphia? 
1331. Where and under what circumstances was spilt the first blood •/ 

the revolutionary war ? 
133S. What led to the burning of Charlestowa? 



40 QUESTIONS. 

19S3. Who iieaded an expedition into Canada 7 

1334. With what success was it made ? 

1335. By whom was general Gage superseded? 
1356. When did the British evacuate Boston? 

1337. When was published the declaration of American Inckpeadeaoe f 

1338. What tended much to raise the despondin* hopes of America tai 

the latter part of 1776 ? 

1339. \Vhat splendid advantages did the Americans gain in 1777 ? 

1340. When was a treaty of alliance formed between the French u4 

Americans ? 

1341. Who took the commamd of the English army on the return of gen- 

eral Howe ? 

1342. Whv was general Lee suspended? 

1343. What took place on the 15lh July, 1779? 

1344. Where, and under what circumstances was count Polaski mortally 

wounded ? 

1345. What prevented West Point from falling into the possession of the 

English? 

1346. What distinguished French military and naval commanders were 

sent to the aid of America ? 

347. What event is reckoned to have decided the contest between Eng- 

land and America ? 

348. How much money did England expend, and how many UYes did 

she sacrifice in this war ? 

SECTION V. 

349. When did the coHvention meet to form a new constitution? 

1350. When and where did the iirst congress meet under the new consti'* 

tution ? 

1351. What produced an insurrection in the western part of Fennsylra- 

nia ? 

1352. What was the state of affairs between the United States and France^ 

during the revolution in the latter ? " 

1353. When did congress first meet ;« the city of Washington ? 

1354. What are the principal particulars of the war with Tripoli? 

1355. When and for how much was Louisiana purchased f 

SECTION VI. 

1356. IVhat were the particulars that led to the suspension of commodon 

Barron ? 

1357. What led to the declaration of war on the 18th of June, 1812, be- 

tween the United States and Great Britain? 

1358. What were some of the principal disasters on land, which the 

Americans experiervced during the war ? 

1359. What were their principal and most brilliant succeaaei on liad? 

1360. What naval victories did they obtain ? 

1361. What naval losses did they experience ? 

1362. What American officers were killed during the ynx i 

1363. What British officers were killed during it ? 

1364. When and where was a treaty of peace signed ? 

1365. Who were the commissioners ? 

1366. What states, since the admission of Louisiana in 181S, have bMM 

admitted into the union ? 

1367. What accession of territory did the United States reocire ia I9t9t 
13(8. What was the population of the United Sutes ia ttfO> 



QUESTIONS 



PART FIFTH. 



SECTION I. 

1S60. Wliat circumstance agitated France in 1820? 

1370 Wlien did Bonaparte die, and at what age? 

1371. What is said of him ? 

J372. What war occurred in 1823, and what vere its eiTecti ? 

1373. When did Louis XVIII. die, and who succeeded hira ? 

1374. What circumstances occurred in Portugal in 1820, in 1821, ud ia 

1823 ? 

1375. Who succeeded George Ul.? 

137G. Wliat remarkable events occurred in England in 1820 ? 

1377. For what was tlie Summer of 1821 remarkable, and what were ita 

consequences .' 
1:378. What important decree was issued by the Emperor of Russia in 1811 ? 

1379. What change has since taken place in the constitution of thai 

Empire ? 

1380. What was the declaration of the Congress of Vienna in 1815, with 

regard to the slave trade ? 
1^.81. How far were their purposes in this respect carried into eflect? 
i:J82. What circumstances occurred with regard to the Jesuits in 181C and 

in 1820 ? 

1383. When did Pope Pius VII. die, and who succeeded him ? 

1384. What were tiie principal events in tJie life of the present popo, pre* 

vious to his elevation to the papal throne ? 

1385. What occurred in Naples and Sicily in 1820 and 1821. 

1386. When did the Greeks revolt against the Turks ' 

1387. What is said of this war ? 

SECTION II. 

1388. From what must we estimate the degree of civilization to which the 

an'iient Mexicans had attained ? 

1389. What is said of the political system ? 
13!)0. What of the ecclesiatical ? 

1391. What crimes were made capital .' 

|3!>2. To what was ti.e attention of government principally directed? 

13"3. What is said of the otlior governments in the country ? 

1394. What of the arts and sciences known to them ? 

1395. Do they appear to iuive been less civilized than European nationa of 

the same period ? 

1396. What occurred when the Spaniards first landed, and how wer« thej 

affected by it." 

1397. What occurred in their route to Tenochtitlan or Meiico .' 

1398. When did they arrive at the capital ? 

1399. What force had Cortez at this time ? 

1400. How were they received ' 

1401. What was tl»e first act of aggression ? 

J402. What most excited the indignation of the MexicaiM? 

1403. On what account did Cortez leave the rity ' 

1404. In what state did he find things on iiu return^ 

1405. How was Mon;ezunia killed ? 

1406. Who was hit suocessor f 



42 QUESTIONS 

1407. Where did the first battle occur, and what was 'tta result f 

1408. What measures did Cortez adopt to strengthen his foree .' 

1409. When did he return to the neighbourhood of Tenocbtitlao, and what 

measures did he pursue to conquer tlie city ? 

1410. What number of allies did he receive ? 
"1411. When was the city conquered? 

1412. How did Cortez dispose of liis captives? 

1413. In wliose reign did the conquest occur ? 

1414. What is said of the history of New Spain from this period till tha 

revolution ? 

1415. WIioso property were these colonies ? 

1416. How were they divided ? 

HJ7. What was the au;hority of ihc viceroy? 

1418. What aids had the viceroys in the administration of gorernment ? 

1119. On whom did the supreme authority devolve when a viceroy died.' 

1420. When was the Council of the Indies established, and what were ita 

functions ? 

1421. Wiiat other tribunal was there ? 

1422. What occurred ia 1803? 

1423. How dirt tliis aflect the European part of the population, and what 

did they do ? 

1424. Who was the next viceroy ? 

1425. What conspiracy was formed, and how did it terminate 1 

1426. What other rcvo-its arc mentioned ? 

1427. When did general Mina arrive ? 

1428. Whf>n was ho. defeated ? 

1429. When, and from what cause, did the last revolt from the autheritj «f 

Spain occur ? 

1430. Who now united their influence in favour of a revolution.' 

1431. Who was selected to execute their plans ? 

1432. What measures did he adopt to raise himself to the supreme au< 

thority ? 

1433. Who were his friends, and who his opponents ' 

1434. When was he declared emperor? 

1435. How were the clei-gy attected ;- 

1436. Who now arose to produce a new revolution, and what were hia 

measures ? 

1437. By whom was Santana assisted ? 

1438. When was this revolution completed ? 
1430. What became of Iturbide ? 

1440. What form of government was established' 

1441. When was their constitution adopted? 

1442. What is its princip.il defect? 

1443. What other federal government was formed at the Mini puriod^ 

1444. What title does it assume ? 

1445. What religion is established ? 

SECTION III. 

1446. When were the Bahamas discovered ? 

1447. When was the first settlement made ? 

1448. By whom wore they soon atler possessed ' 

1449. Whj was their leader ? 

1450. Who have since possessed the Bahamaa? 

1451. What is said of the pirates? 

1452. What is said of the Aborigines ? 

1453. What of the Arrowauks ? 

1454 How were the Great Antilles divided.' 
1455. What was the authority of the caciquaa^ 
M56. How populous were these islands ? 



QUESTIONS. 

1457 What became of the inhabitants ? 

1458 What Tact is worthy of record in favour of the Spuutrdlf 

1459. Who were the Buccaniers ? 

1460. Whence their name .' 

1461. Give the rest of their history ? 

SECTION IV 

1462 When was this country discovered and settled f 

14C3. Character of its history till 1778 ? 

14(54. What events followed .' 

14(>5. When was the country invaded ; by whom ; and with what MIOO 

14GC. Where did the revolution commence, and what was its eatuM^ 

1407. What is the date of its declaration of Independence ? 

14G8. By whom was it afterwards invaded .' 

14()9. What is its present state .-' 

1470. What is the early history of Brazil ? 

1471. When did the roya! family arrive, and how long 

1472. How was the government then left .' 

1473. What circumstances followed ? 

1474. Who is the Emperor of Brazil .' 

1475. What is said of the history of Guiana ? 
147<j. What is the principal tribe of Indians in Guiana? 

1477. Of what was New-Granada originally a part.' 

1478. What changes have taken place in the audiences and ^ 

1479. What occurred in 1811 ? 

1480. History of Venezuela from 1498 to 1806 .' 

1481. What is said of Miranda's expedition ' 

1482. What occurred in 1811 ? 

1483. When were Venezuela and New-Gianada united.' 

1484. What fundamental laws of the Republic are mentioned' 

1485. WJiat is said of the constitution .'' 
1480. Why is the early history of Peru uncertain ? 
1487. Former state of the Peruvian tribes ' 
1483. Who appeared among fliem, and with what pretensions t 

1489. What city was fo15ndcd ? 

1490. What did tliese extraordinary persons teach .' 

1491. How extensive were their dominions ? 

1492. What were they called .' 

1493. How was the succession of Incas preserved pure ? 

1494. What is said of their religion and civil policy ? 

1495. How many Incas were there .-' 

1496. How far did they advance in civilization? 

1 497. When did the Spanfards first visit Peru ? 

1498. What is the history of Huana Capac •' 

1499. What is the history of Huascar and Ji ^hualpa ? 

1500. What is said of the Spanish invader 

1501. What were their measures? 

1502. What is the subsequent history of Peru ? 

1503. What is its present condition ? 

1504. What possessions on the American continent do t 

hold ? 

1505. What is the history of Chili before the invasion ? 
1500. Describe the first expedition and its result ? 

1507. Describe the second expedition ? 

1508. What occurred on the return of Almagro to Pem? 

1509. Who was entrusted with the third expeditioB f 

1510. What is said of the subsequent contests? 

1511. Give an account of the Araucanians f 
1612. What occurred ia 1810 ? 



dUEsnoift J 



1513. What in 1814 and in 1817 ? 

1514. Ilovr was the patriot army re-organized ? 

1515. What is said of thei.- passage over the Andei? 
151C. What were the events of 1818 ? 

1517. What government is established ? 

1518. Why will their progress in real knowledf* berfaw^ 

1519. What is said of Don Jose San Martin ? 
IGaa Wbat is laid of Bolivar? 



«*«.«»*•■(<• 



VERIFICATION OF AN ANCIENT PROPHECY. 

The following prophecy is Eaid to have been de- 
livered by a British bard, in the time of William 
the Norman, and preserved by some of the monkish 
annalists, viz: That no more than three monarchs, 
in direct succession, should ever reign over these 
kingdoms, without some violent interruptioni 
1 William the Norman, 2 William Rufus, 

3 Henry the First, 
I « Interrupted by the usurpation of Stephen. 
' 1 Henry the Second, 2 Edward the First, 

3 Edward the Second, 
Interrupted by the abdication and murder of Ed- 
ward the Second. 

1 Edward the Third, '1 Richar<f the Second, 
liiterrupted by the deposition of tliat monarch. 
; 1 Henry the Fourth, 2 Henry the Fifth, 

■J Henry the Sixth, 
Interrupted by the restoration of the House of 
York. 

1 Edward the Fourth, 2 Edward the Fifth, 

'. Richard the Third, 
Interrupted by tlie usurpation of Henry Rich- 
mond. 

1 Henry the Seventh, 2 Henry the Eighth, 

3 Edward the Sixth, 
Interrupted by the election of Lady Jane Grey. 
1 3Iary, 2 Elizabeth, 

A foreign King (James of Scotland,) called in to 
assume the crown. 

1 James the First, 2 Charles the First, 

Interrupted by the deiiosition of that monarch, 
and the establishment of another form of Govern- 
ment, in the person of Oliver Cromwell. 

1 Charles the Second, 2 James the Second, 
Interrupted by the abdication of that King, and 
the election of a foreigner. 

1 William the Third, 2 Anne, 

Interrupted by the Parliamentary appointment 
of a foreigner. 

1 George the First, 2 George the Second, 

3 George the Third, 
Interrupted by the unfortunate incapacity of that 
sovereign, and the Parliamentary appointment for 
exercising the sovereignty in the person of the 
Prinee Regent. 

1 George the Fourth, 2 William the Fonrth, 
3 Victoria the First, -ji^. 

Whom may God blfss, but what is to be the 
next intenwi.t ion?— JY. I'. T,ihine. 



JOiichivf ISatlUs. . ,,^ rpjjg defeated of Charles Xll. by l*e.tfir 

I'ho Decisive battles of the Win Id, Ilina; ||,„'j. ^.^^^ g^j. p^ltowa, A. D,l(09, which se- 
)r\\J,ich, to use Hollani's words, "a contra! ^.^^pji the stability f CMic Muscovite Empire. 
V event should have essentially varied th 13. The Battle of Saii'tii.a, .\.D.i777,in 
drama ofthe world in all its subsequeni j^^j^l^ Qgj,_ Qates delouted Gen. Burgoync, 
ssenes," are ninnbered as 15 by Prof. Cressy ^^^^^ which decided the fate of the American 
who fills the chair of r.ncient <ind Moden „p.^,i^l^^{jQ^jgtg^ l^y niaking France their ally' 
History in the University of London. They ^^^ otherEuro'pean powers friendly to them 
are the grand subjectof two volumes by him! ^^ The Battle of Valmy, A. D. 1792,ii 
just from Bentlcy's press. Those l^iittlesl ,,^^1^,^^ {i,g Continental Allies, under tin 
are as follows: I Duke of Brunswick, were deftated by th 

1. The Battle of Maranthon, fought 490 ij^^jij^l^ ^p^Jpj. Dumouriez, without wllici 
B.C., in which the Greeks under Tliemisto-) ^^^ j^rench Revolution would have been stay 
cles defeated the Persians under . Darius, ■ ^^ t. 

'hereby turning back a tide of Asiatic inv;i- ^. rpj^g Battle of Waterloo^ A.D, 'I8I 
sion, which else would have swept over Eu- j^ which the Duke of Wellington hopeless) 
i-r>pe- ) d-featcd Napoleon, and saved Euro)"' ii'" 

'.>. The Mattie of Syracure, 413 B. C. in | hj^ o,.;isp,ng ambiton. 
which the Athenian povv'er was broken, and'; 
the Wffst of Europe saved from t3reek do- 
mination. 

.^. The Battle of Arbella, a?! B. C, in 
which Alexander, by the defeat lif Darius, 
establislii-d his power in Asia, and by the in- 
troductirin of European civilizatior] ]irodiv-- 
ed an elfcct which as yet may be tni ' )d 
there. 

1. The Battle of Mataurus, 207 B. C, in 
which the Romans under Consul Nero de- 
feated the Carthagenians under Hasdrubal, 
and by which the supremacy of the great 
Republic was establisihed. 

5. The Victory of Arminius, A. D. 9, Over 
the Roman legions under Varus, which se- ■ 
I cured Gaul from the Roman domination; < 
I 0. The batlle of Chalon.s, A. D. 4.>1, in 
■ which Actus defeated Atilla the Hun, the 
/elt-stj led "Scourge of God," and saved Eu- 
ro;ic from entire devastation. 

7. The Battle of Tours, A. D., 7^2, in 

which Charles Martel, by th«j defeat ofthe ,J 

S.iracens, averted the Mohammedan yoke [i 

from Eurpe. / 

8. Th-^ Battle of Hastings, A.D. lOCC, in \ 
whicli Willarti of Norlnandy was victorious 

over the Anglo Saxon Harold, and the re- ^ 

suit of which was the formation o( the Anglo f 

\orman nation which is nuw dominant in 4 

-he world. '; 

9. Tiie Battle of Orlenans, A.D. 1S09, in 
dependent existence of Fiance secured. 

10. The defeat of the Sbanish Armada, A. 
D. I'SS, which crushed the hopes of the F-A- 
inKi.Ali'.nd. 

11. J'lic B;i!-e of Blenheim, A.D. 1704, in | 
which M.irlljj.i'i'gh, by the defeat of Tal- ' 
lard, broke the power and crlished the am- 
bition of Loijis XIV. 



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